Status: 07/25/2021 9:49 pm
In early July, gunmen kidnapped more than 120 students in Nigeria. Now 28 of them are free again. Apparently ransom was not paid. However, at least 80 children are still in the hands of the kidnappers.
After the kidnapping of more than 120 schoolchildren in Nigeria, West Africa, at the beginning of July, 28 schoolchildren are free again. At least 80 other children are still in the hands of the kidnappers, the police said. The released children were found in the village of Sabon Gaya, said the police spokesman for Kaduna state.
No ransom payment
According to the Nigerian government, heavily armed men attacked the Bethel Baptist High School in Damishi village on July 5 and kidnapped the children. A first group of 28 children was released a few days after the crime. Now the kidnappers have dropped another 28 of them in Damishi, the president of the Nigerian Baptist Community, Israel Akanji, told local journalists. The church did not pay a ransom. The school in question is closed until further notice.
Tenth kidnapping since December
Major child abductions related to school robberies are common in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country. Behind it are both Islamist terrorist groups such as Boko Haram and criminal gangs who want to extort ransom. The most spectacular case occurred in 2014 when Boko Haram kidnapped 276 schoolgirls. The current kidnapping case is the tenth since last December. Since then, more than 700 children and students have been kidnapped.