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| Boko Haram has shown some of those kidnapped on its propaganda videos (AFP) |
Twenty-one of the schoolgirls kidnapped in 2014 by Boko Haram in Chibok, Nigeria, have been freed, the president's spokesman has confirmed.
Garba Shehu said the release was "the outcome of negotiations between the administration and Islamist militants".
Four imprisoned militants were reportedly freed in exchange.
Boko Haram seized more than 270 students from a school in Chibok, north-east Nigeria - an act that provoked international condemnation.
It sparked one of the biggest global social media campaigns, with tweeters using the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls.
Twenty-one of the schoolgirls kidnapped in 2014 by Boko Haram in Chibok, Nigeria, have been freed, the president's spokesman has confirmed.
Garba Shehu said the release was "the outcome of negotiations between the administration and Islamist militants".
Four imprisoned militants were reportedly freed in exchange.
Boko Haram seized more than 270 students from a school in Chibok, north-east Nigeria - an act that provoked international condemnation.
It sparked one of the biggest global social media campaigns, with tweeters using the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls.
How the schoolgirls were freed
A security official has told the BBC that several top-level Boko Haram detainees were taken to a meeting point close to the Cameroon border.
Under the supervision of the ICRC, the girls were then released and the militants were handed over.
The students were then transported to the city of Maiduguri and placed under the supervision of the security forces.
According to the security official, most of the young women have babies.
Just last month the Nigerian government announced that several round of talks with Boko Haram had broken down, but with this release they have shown that those kidnapped can be released through intermediaries.
"I can only weep, right now. You know that kind of cry that is a mix of multiple emotions," Obiageli Ezekwesili, one of the leaders of the #BringBackOurGirls movement, has tweeted in response to the news.
The president also tweeted that he welcomed the release "following successful negotiations".
Up to now there had only been one confirmed release of a student kidnapped from Chibok.
In May, a 19-year-old woman was found by an army-backed vigilante group.
After that it was believed that 218 students were still missing. More than 50 managed to escape on the day they were captured.
Boko Haram has also kidnapped thousands of other people during its seven-year insurgency in north-east Nigeria.
More than 30,000 others have been killed, the government says, and hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee from their homes.
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