More than 300 schoolboys kidnapped last week in an attack on their school in northwest Nigeria have returned home. The capital of Katsina state celebrated their release as the boys arrived by bus on Friday.

The boys were abducted one week ago from the all-boys Government Science Secondary School in Kankara in Katsina State.

Nigeria's Boko Haram jihadist rebels claimed responsibility for the abduction, saying they attacked the school because it believes Western education is un-Islamic, factional leader Abubakar Shekau said in a video earlier this week.

More than 800 students were at the school at the time of the attack.

The boys met on Friday with Katsina Governor Aminu Bello Masari, who said late on Thursday that the kidnappers had released 344 students and turned them over to security officials.

The boys will undergo medical examinations before being reunited with their families.