UPDATE 5-Nigerian schoolboys freed as forces search for 300 abducted girls

* Freed captives were abducted in Niger state last week
* Search continues for 317 girls kidnapped in Zamfara state
* Kidnappings for ransom are common in parts of Nigeria
* President urges state governments to stop payouts to
criminals

(Adds details from Jangebe, parent of abducted girl, Buhari
quote)
By Seun Sanni and Afolabi Sotunde
JANGEBE, Nigeria, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Gunmen in Nigeria on
Saturday released 27 teenage boys who were kidnapped from their
school last week in the north-central state of Niger, while
security forces continued to search for more than 300
schoolgirls abducted in a nearby state.
Schools have become targets for mass kidnappings for ransom
in northern Nigeria by armed groups.
On Feb. 17, 27 students, three staff and 12 members of their
families were abducted by an armed gang that stormed the
Government Science secondary school in the Kagara district of
Niger state, overwhelming the school's security detail. One boy
was killed during the raid. After their release, boys were seen by a Reuters witness
walking with armed security through a dusty village, some
struggling to stand and asking for water. A government official
said the boys were aged between 15 and 18.
The release comes just a day after the raid on a school in
Zamfara state where gunmen seized 317 girls. Police on Saturday
mounted a hunt for the girls, while parents waited in the school
compound for news on their daughters. One of them, Lawal Muhammed, was hopeful his daughter would
be released, saying the abductors wanted a ransom which could be
paid.
"These ones ... are already after ransom, so I know and
believe that when the government settles with them, they will be
able to release our daughters," he told Reuters.
School kidnappings in Nigeria were first carried out by
jihadist groups Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa
Province, but the tactic has now been adopted by other militants
whose agenda is unclear.
In a statement late Friday, the presidency said President
Muhammadu Buhari had urged state governments "to review their
policy of rewarding bandits with money and vehicles, warning
that the policy might boomerang disastrously."
The unrest has become a political problem for Buhari, a
retired general and former military ruler who has faced mounting
criticism over high profile attacks by the gangs known locally
as "bandits".
Buhari replaced his long-standing military chiefs this month
amid worsening violence. In December, gunmen raided a school in northwestern Katsina
state and kidnapped nearly 350 boys, who were subsequently
rescued by security forces. highest profile school kidnapping was that of more than
270 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram from the town of Chibok
in 2014. Around 100 of them remain missing.