All 79 children and a driver kidnapped in west Cameroon were free on Wednesday, but a principal and one teacher are still being held by the armed men that took them, a priest conducting negotiations said. The group was abducted on Monday in Bamenda, a commercial hub of Cameroon’s restive English-speaking region, according to military and government sources.

“Praise God 78 children and the driver have been released. The principal and one teacher are still with the kidnappers. Let us keep praying,” Samuel Fonki, a minister of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon, said. The priest did not say precisely when the children were freed, or whether any deal had been made with the kidnappers. He had earlier said another 11 school children were kidnapped by the same armed group on Oct. 31, then released after the school paid a ransom of 2.5 million CFA francs (R62 529.02).