25 Girls Kidnapped From High School In Nigeria
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Gunmen attacked a high school in northwestern Nigeria before dawn Monday, taking away 25 female students and killing at least one staff member, authorities said. kidnapping of students in the region.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for kidnapping the girls He came from boarding school in Kebbi state and his motivations were unclear.
Nigeria is facing a problem multidimensional security problemAmorphous groups of armed bandits that specialize in kidnapping, particularly for ransom (sometimes totaling thousands of dollars), and have been responsible for numerous high-profile kidnappings in the northern region of Nigeria. Kidnappings and attacks on villages and main roads have become common due to the limited security presence.
These bandits have no links to militant groups such as Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province, which continues attacks on communities and government facilities. motivated by religion.
Police said the female boarding students were taken from their dormitories at 4 a.m. on Monday morning. Police spokesman Nafi’u Abubakar Kotarkoshi said the school was in Maga in the Danko-Wasagu region of the state.
Kotarkoshi said the attackers were armed with “sophisticated weapons” and exchanged fire with guards before kidnapping the girls.
“A combined team is currently scouring the suspected escape routes and surrounding forests in a coordinated search and rescue operation with the aim of rescuing the kidnapped students and arresting the perpetrators,” the spokesman said.
Kotarkoshi said one person was killed and another was injured, but a resident who said his daughter and grandson were kidnapped during the raid believes the death toll is two.
Abdulkarim Abdullahi Maga said, “The attackers were said to have entered the school in large numbers on motorcycles. First, they went directly to the teacher’s house and killed him before killing the guard.”
Police did not respond to a call from The Associated Press seeking confirmation of a second death.
Armed groups have been targeting schoolchildren in the region since 2014. Boko Haram Kidnapped 276 students from Chibok In Borno state. This is kidnapping It ushered in a new era of horror, and dozens more are still ongoing. in captivity.
Since Chibok’s kidnapping, at least 1,500 students They were kidnapped as armed groups found kidnappings an increasingly lucrative way to finance other crimes and take control of villages in the country’s mineral-rich but weakly regulated part of the country. More than once in March 2024 130 students were rescued After more than two weeks in captivity in Kaduna state, Nigeria.
However, raids on schools have decreased in recent years as state governments have implemented security measures in hotspots, including closing schools for extended periods.
Freelance journalist Mohammed Ibrahim in Kaduna, Nigeria, contributed.
