A Canadian nun, Gilberte Bussiere, 75, and two Italian priests Giampaolo Marta, 47 and Gianantonio Allegri, 57, have been freed, according to officials.

The three clerics, from the diocese of Vicenza in the northeast of Italy were taken hostage on the night of 4 April after a group of armed men stormed their small parish in Tchéré, and ransacked church buildings before heading toward the Nigerian border.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack but suspicion has fallen on Boko Haram the extremist Islamist group.

Source: BBC