*NIGERIA'S ABDUCTED - *SCHOOL GIRLS*

BOKO HARAM Islamists who kidnapped more than 100 schoolgirls in Dapchi, northeast Nigeria, just over a month ago -

*Have returned the students to the town, two parents told AFP on Wednesday*.

A senior government source in Abuja and police in Yobe state also confirmed the girls' return although it was not immediately clear how many of the 110 students had been freed.

The Dapchi kidnapping on February 19 brought painful memories of a similar abduction in Chibook in April 2014, when more than 200 girls were taken.

Bashir Manzo, who heads a parents support group in Dapchi, said :

''The girls have been brought back. They were brought in nine vehicles and dropped outside the school at 8:00 am [0700 GMT].

''I have the list of the missing girls, so I am now heading to the school to take a roll call of the returned girls to determine if any of them is still missing.

These girls were not accompanied by any security personnel. Their abductors brought them, dropped them outside the school and left, without talking to anyone.''

''We will get to know more details from the girls about their predicament while in captivity.

[Agencies]