Dozens of schoolgirls kidnapped by Islamist militant group Boko Haram in Nigeria have reportedly been released.

The girls have been kept prisoner for three years since they were snatched from the northeastern town of Chibok in April 2014.

A government minister, who asked not to be named and is understood to be the father of two of the girls, said 82 had been released, although this number was unconfirmed with other reports putting the number at between 50 and 62.

The rise of Boko Haram Show all 20 1 /20 The rise of Boko Haram The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram The leader of the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram Abubakar Shekau delivers a message. Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for the mass killings in the north-east Nigerian town of Baga in a video where he warned the massacre “was just the tip of the iceberg”. As many as 2,000 civilians were killed and 3,700 homes and business were destroyed in the 3 January 2015 attack on the town near Nigeria's border with Cameroon AFP The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram People displaced as a result of Boko Haram attacks in the northeast region of Nigeria, are seen near their tents at a faith-based camp for internally displaced people (IDP) in Yola, Adamawa State. Boko Haram says it is building an Islamic state that will revive the glory days of northern Nigeria's medieval Muslim empires, but for those in its territory life is a litany of killings, kidnappings, hunger and economic collapse The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Nitsch Eberhard Robert, a German citizen abducted and held hostage by suspected Boko Haram militants, is seen as he arrives at the Yaounde Nsimalen International airport after his release in Yaounde, Cameroon on 21 January 2015 The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Officials of the Nigerian National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) visit victims of a bomb blast in Gombe at the Specialist Hospital in Gombe. According to local reports at least six people were killed and 11 wounded after a bomb blast in a marketplace in Nigeria's northeastern state of Gombe on 16 January 2015. Islamist militant group Boko Haram has been blamed for a string of recent attacks in the North East of Nigeria The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram People gather at the site of a bomb explosion in a area know to be targeted by the militant group Boko Haram in Kano on 28 November 2014 The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram People gather to look at a burnt vehicle following a bomb explosion that rocked the busiest roundabout near the crowded Market in Maiduguri, Borno State on 1 July 2014. A truck exploded in a huge fireball killing at least 15 people in the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri, the city repeatedly hit by Boko Haram Islamists The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram President Goodluck Jonathan visits Nigerian Army soldiers fighting Boko Haram Getty Images The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Displaced people from Baga listen to Goodluck Jonathan after the Boko Haram killings AFP/Getty The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan speaking to troops during a visit to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State; most of the region has been overrun by Boko Haram AFP/Getty The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Members of the Nigerian military patrolling in Maiduguri, North East Nigeria, close to the scene of attacks by Boko Haram EPA The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Boko Haram’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, appears in a video in which he warns Cameroon it faces the same fate as Nigeria AFP The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Nana Shettima, the wife of Borno Governor, Kashim Shettima (C) weeps as she speaks with school girls from the government secondary school Chibok that were kidnapped by the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram, and later escaped in Chibok The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram South Africans protest in solidarity against the abduction of hundreds of schoolgirls in Nigeria by the Muslim extremist group Boko Haram and what protesters said was the failure of the Nigerian government and international community to rescue them, during a march to the Nigerian Consulate in Johannesburg The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Boko Haram militants have seized the town in north-eastern Nigeria that nearly 300 schoolgirls were kidnapped from in April 2014 AFP The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram A soldier stands guard in front of burnt buses after an attack in Abuja. Twin blasts at a bus station packed with morning commuters on the outskirts of Nigeria's capital killed dozens of people, in what appeared to be the latest attack by Boko Haram Islamists, April 2014 The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram The aftermath of the attack, when Boko Haram fighters in trucks painted in military colours killed 51 people in Konduga in February 2014 AFP/Getty Images The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram The leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau (with papers) in a video grab taken in July 2014 AFP/Getty The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Ruins of burnt out houses in the north-eastern settlement of Baga, pictured after Boko Haram attacks in 2013 AP The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram A Boko Haram attack in Nigeria, 2013 AFP/Getty Images The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Abubakar Shekau, Boko Haram’s leader AP

Local media reported that communities in Chibok “erupted with joy” on hearing the news.

The kidnap of around 276 young girls caused international outrage, with the hashtag #bringbackourgirls trending on social media and supported by then-First Lady Michelle Obama.

More than 50 managed to escape soon after being kidnapped, but 220 of the girls, all snatched from the same school, remained in captivity.

Bukky Shonibare, one of the founders of the campaign, said: “This is exciting news for us, for the parents and the Chibok community. A very exciting and welcome development.”

Muhammad Askira, national secretary of Kibaku area development association in Chibok, said the reports had renewed the hope of the people.

“We, the people of Chibok, have a cause to celebrate. We are yet to see our daughters, but this has renewed our hope that President Buhari is committed to rescuing our [relatives],” he told Nigerian website The Cable.

Around 20 of the girls were released last October in a deal brokered by the Red Cross, and another five escaped or were rescued, but 195 were still believed to be in captivity prior to the latest release.

A Government official said their release was brought about by negotiation and a government statement would follow.

The girls are believed to have been freed in exchange for some of Boko Haram’s commanders held by the government.

A military source told Reuters the girls were currently in Banki close to the Cameroon border for medical checks and would be airlifted to Maiduguri, the capital of Borneo state. They were said to be in the custody of the Nigerian army.

Nigerian President Muhammed Buhari said last month that his government was in talks to secure the release of the remaining girls.

One of the missing girls, Amina Ali, who managed to escape in May 2016, said that six of the girls had died in captivity.

Boko Haram have kidnapped thousands of children and adults and is believed to have slaughtered more than 20,000 people and displaced around two million in its bid to create an Islamic caliphate in northeast Nigeria.