Nigerian official: 62 Chibok girls released from Boko Haram

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) - A Nigerian military official with knowledge of the rescue operation says 83 Chibok schoolgirls are free more than three years after a mass abduction by Boko Haram extremists.

Family members say they are eagerly awaiting a list of names and "our hopes and expectations are high."

The official says the schoolgirls were found near the border town of Banki in Borno state near Cameroon. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make the announcement.

The number could not be independently confirmed by The Associated Press. The schoolgirls remained in military custody late Saturday.

While 21 girls had been freed in the first negotiated release in October, 195 had remained hostage until this weekend.

Meanwhile, the United States and British governments are warning that the Boko Haram extremist group is actively planning to kidnap foreigners in northeast Nigeria.

The British warning says the extremists are targeting Western foreign workers in the Bama area of Borno state, close to the Cameroon border.

The Nigeria-based Boko Haram has been pushed out of strongholds by military efforts but continues to control parts of the country's northeast.

That has challenged aid groups' efforts to address a hunger crisis that the United Nations says has left 4.7 million people in urgent need of food aid.

Nigeria is part of what the U.N. has called the largest humanitarian crisis since the world body was founded in 1945. The World Food Program has warned of aid cuts if more help doesn't arrive.