NEWS- Armed gun have struck again in Northwest Nigeria where they broke into a boarding school early yesterday and abducted 15 children whom they picked from the dormitory where they slept, about 48 hours after nearly 300 students were taken hostage in the conflict-hit region.
School abductions have become common in Nigeria’s Northern Region, especially since the 2014 kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls by Islamic extremists in Borno State’s in Chibok village that shocked the world and since then armed gangs have since targeted schools for kidnap ransoms, resulting in kidnap of at least 1,400 abducted since then.
Sokoto State Police spokesman Ahmad Rufa’i told journalists that latest reports, indicate that the gunmen in the latest attack invaded the Gidan Bakuso village of the Gada Council Area in Sokoto State yesterday morning and they headed to the Islamic School where they seized the children from their hostel before security forces could arrive.
Ahmad Rufa’i also said that, one woman was also abducted from the village and a Police Tactical Squad has been deployed to search for the kidnapped students, the inaccessible roads in the area, however, challenged the rescue operation because it is a remote village and vehicles cannot go there, but the Police Squad had to use motorcycles to access the village.
Yesterday attack was the 3rd mass kidnapping in Northern Nigeria since late last week, when more than 200 people, mostly women and children, were abducted by suspected extremists in Borno state and on Thursday, 287 students were also taken hostage from a government Primary and Secondary school in Kaduna State.
The attacks highlight a security crisis that has plagued Africa’s most populous country, because kidnappings for ransom have become lucrative across Nigeria’s northern region, where dozens of armed gangs operate.
Security forces have since swept through large forests in Nigeria’s Northwest region in search of nearly 300 abducted children, but no group has claimed responsibility for any of the abductions.
While Islamic extremists who are waging an insurgency in Northeastern Nigeria are suspected of carrying out the kidnapping in Borno state, locals blamed the school kidnappings on herders who had been in conflict with their host communities before taking up arms.
Nigeria’s Vice President Kashim Shettima, yesterday met with authorities and some parents of the abducted students in Kaduna State and assured them of efforts by security forces to find the children and rescue them.
Additional Reporting by Associated Press
