Families’ joy as 83 Chibok schoolgirls are released three years after they were kidnapped by Boko Haram

EIGHTY-three schoolgirls kidnapped three years ago by Boko Haram extremists have been released by the depraved terror group.

Family members in Nigeria said they were eagerly awaiting a list of names and "our hopes and expectations are high."

Before the announcement, 195 of the Chibok schoolgirls had remained captive after the first negotiated release of 21 girls in October.

At the time, Nigeria's government said another group of 83 girls would be released "very soon."

"Huge numbers," the personal assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari, Bashir Ahmad, tweeted late Saturday.

A military official with direct knowledge of the rescue operation said the freed girls were found near the town of Banki in Borno state near Cameroon.

He said: "The location of the girls kept changing since yesterday when the operation to rescue them commenced.”

The number released could not be independently confirmed by The Associated Press, and there was no official government announcement late Saturday.

On Friday, the US and Britain issued warnings that Boko Haram was planning to kidnap foreigners in Borno state "along the Kumshe-Banki axis” which is close to where the girls were reported to be found.

The 276 schoolgirls kidnapped from Chibok in northern Nigeria in April 2014 are among thousands of people abducted by brainwashed terror group over the years.

The mass abduction shocked the world and put tremendous pressure on Nigeria's government to counter the extremists.

Many of the kidnapped girls, most of whom were Christians, were forced to marry the Islamic terrorists and became pregnant.

Human rights advocates believe others could be among the young girls who have been used to carry out suicide bombing attacks.

The group representing the families of the girls said they were awaiting direct confirmation from the government.

"Our hopes and expectations are high as we look forward to this news being true and confirmed," said Sesugh Akume with the #BringBackOurGirls campaign.

The Nigerian government has denied that a ransom was paid in the October release and that it freed some detained Boko Haram fighters in exchange for the girls.

The negotiations were mediated by the Swiss government and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

At the three-year anniversary of the kidnapping in April, officials said the latest negotiations had "gone quite far" but faced challenges.

Buhari late last year announced Boko Haram had been "crushed," but the group continues to carry out attacks in northern Nigeria and neighbouring countries.

Its insurgency has killed more than 20,000 people and driven 2.6 million from their homes, with millions facing starvation.

In March, shocking footage showed a scared teen girl revealing she was paid just 40 pence by Boko Haram to carry out a suicide bomb attack.

Obtained by Sky News, the astonishing video shows the 14-year-old being interviewed by Nigerian cops who stopped her before she could detonate her explosives.

The Islamic extremists are known to use women to carry out deadly bomb attacks in the northeast of the African country.

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