Students kidnapped from a boarding school in Cameroon’s North-West region have been freed, officials say.
The 79 students and three others were seized early on Monday morning in the region’s capital, Bamenda.
The school’s principal, the driver, and a teacher are still in captivity, the BBC’s Mayeni Jones reports.
The government and separatists in the English-speaking region have been accusing each other of being behind the kidnapping.
An Anglophone separatist movement has been operating in the North-West and South-West regions over the past year.
It is unclear how the students were freed.
Cameroon’s army launched a massive search operation on Tuesday to track the hostages.
Communication Minister Issa Bakary Tchiroma told AFP news agency that “all 79 students have been released,” but did not give the details of the circumstances.
A priest who was conducting negotiations with the captors confirmed the release but said the school’s principal, driver and a teacher were held back, Reuters news agency reports.