Ruth Maclean?@ruthmaclean

“Boko Haram shook hands with the parents and apologised for abducting them. They said that if they knew they were Muslim girls, they wouldn’t have abducted them."https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/21/boko-haram-returns-some-of-the-girls-it-kidnapped-last-month …

11:20 AM - Mar 21, 2018

Boko Haram returns some of the girls it kidnapped last month

A number of the 110 schoolgirls kidnapped by militants in north-east Nigeria have been returned, according to relatives

theguardian.com

The Guardian quotes Mohammed Mdada, a local vigilante, who saw the girls being kidnapped in the town last month.

He told the news site that the militants said that "if they knew the girls were Muslim they would not have abducted them."

He added that,“they spoke in the Kanuri language and were dressed in black turbans, and they’d dressed the girls in cream hijabs."

“They warned the girls that they should stay away from school and swore that if they came back and found any girl in school, they’d abduct them again and never give them back.”

Mr Mdada is also quoted as saying that the five girls reported to have died, had been trampled to death in overcrowded trucks as they were driven away.

Nigerian authorities have said that 76 out of the 110 schoolgirls have been returned.

We are monitoring this developing story, so stay with us for more updates.