By Abdulgafar Oladimeji, our Nigeria correspondent 

The 42 people people including 27 students kidnapped in a boarding school in Northern Nigeria have been released.

According to sources the students and their teachers were released on Saturday morning after 10 days in captivity. The freed school children have been taken into shelter by police authorities.

PR Nigeria, an Abuja based cable news network that specialises in reporting police operations, have confirmed the release citing credible police sources.

The news of the release began trending on  Saturday morning as journalists await official confirmation. 

As at when filling this report, Nigerian authorities have yet to officially confirm the release of the kidnapped students.

It could be recalled that unknown gunmen attacked a college in the early hours of February 17 and abducted 27 students, three teachers and their families 

Nigeria’s president Muhamamdu Buhari described the incident as brazen, while Senior Special Assistant to the president on media and publicity, Garba Shehu  in a message released via his twitter handle stated that the federal government will pursue the safe return of the abducted school children.

Meanwhile police have launched a search and rescue operation for 317 girls kidnapped from a school in the state of Zamfara.

The kidnappings in Nigeria are carried out for ransom and are common in the north.