Nigerian authorities have secured the release of 100 kidnapped schoolchildren taken by gunmen from a Catholic school last month, a UN source and local media said Sunday, though the fate of the 165 students and staff thought to remain in captivity remains unclear.

In late November 315 students and staff were kidnapped from St. Mary's co-educational boarding school in north-central Niger state, as the country buckled under a wave of mass abductions reminiscent of the infamous 2014 Boko Haram abduction of schoolgirls in Chibok.

Some 50 escaped shortly afterward, leaving 265 thought to be in captivity

The 100 children have arrived in the capital Abuja and are set to be handed over to local government officials in Niger state on Monday, according to the United Nations source.

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