Nigeria said yesterday it had agreed a ceasefire with Islamist militants Boko Haram and reached a deal for the release of more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by the group six months ago.

There was no immediate confirmation from the rebels, who have wreaked five years of havoc in Africa’s top oil producer and triggered an international outcry by seizing the girls from the northeast town of Chibok in April.

“I wish to inform this audience that a ceasefire agreement has been concluded,” said the head of Nigeria’s military, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, adding that the deal had followed three days of talks with the militant sect.

Government spokesman Mike Omeri said the deal covered the release of the captives and Boko Haram had given assurances “that the schoolgirls and all other people in their captivity are alive and well”.

Their release would be a huge boost for President Goodluck Jonathan, who faces an election next year and has been pilloried at home and abroad for his slow response to the kidnapping and his inability to quell the violence, the biggest security threat to Africa’s biggest economy.

Apart from one appearance on a Boko Haram video, the girls have not been seen since the brazen night-time raid on the town near the Cameroon border, although police and a parent said last month that one of the victims had been released.

Boko Haram, whose name roughly translates as ‘Western education is sinful’, has killed thousands of people in its fight to create an Islamic caliphate in the vast scrubland of Nigeria’s impoverished northeast.

A senior Nigerian security source confirmed the existence of talks, but said it remained unclear whether the government was negotiating with self-proclaimed movement leader Abubakar Shekau, or another faction within the group.

“Commitment among parts of Boko Haram and the military does appear to be genuine. It is worth taking seriously,” the security source said.