At least 344 students who were kidnapped from a school in Nigeria's Katsina state have been released, a government official announced.

"I think we have recovered most of the boys," Xinhua news agency quoted Katsina Governor Aminu Masari as saying Nigerian TV network NTA on Thursday.

Masari added that the students will receive medical examination and reunite with their families on Friday.

The students of the Government Science Secondary School located in the state's Kankara area were kidnapped by a group of unidentified gunmen on the night of December 11.

They were then taken into a vast forest in the neighbouring Zamfara state, according to media reports.

Following the abduction, the local government had been negotiating with the kidnappers to secure the release of the abductees, the reports said on Thursday.

The boarding school has a population of 839 students.