YAOUNDE: A church official in Cameroon says that the 79 students kidnapped by unidentified gunmen have been released, but two of the three staff members abducted are still being held.

Fonki Samuel Forba, moderator of Cameroon's Presbyterian Church, said Wednesday that the schoolchildren, who had been kidnapped Sunday night from a church school, had been left at a church near Bamenda, the North West Region capital.

He said the students looked tired and as if they had suffered during their captivity.

He pleaded with the kidnappers to free the staff still held. He had asked parents and guardians to take home all their children. He said the Presbyterian boarding school with 700 students is being closed because of the security situation.