More than 200 students have been abducted in Nigeria. According to eyewitnesses, gunmen surrounded a school and took the children away. It is still unclear who is responsible for the kidnapping.
Armed attackers have kidnapped more than 200 students in northwest Nigeria. The attack occurred at a primary school in Kuriga town, Kaduna state, said school principal Sani Abdullahi. Governor Uba Sani visited the site the same day and assured that every child would return home.
The attackers surrounded the school shortly after the morning meeting and took the children, said Joshua Madami, who leads a youth group in the area. He initially spoke of up to 200 kidnapped people. The school principal later said a count of the missing people had reached 284, according to the AP news agency. The Reuters news agency spoke of at least 227 abducted people.
It is still unclear who is responsible for the kidnapping. In Nigeria, especially in the northwest and central regions of the country, people are repeatedly abducted. Often they are women and children.
Amnesty International called on the Nigerian authorities to bring the students to safety and bring the perpetrators to justice. Hassan Abdullahi, the father of several kidnapped children, said local vigilantes tried to fight off the gunmen but were overwhelmed.
At least 200 people were kidnapped at the end of February
It was only on Wednesday evening that the UN mission in Nigeria reported the kidnapping of at least 200 people. The mass kidnapping occurred on February 29th in Borno state. Islamist extremists have been active in the region for many years. The people who were abducted there were mainly women and children who lived in refugee camps on the border with Chad and were looking for firewood in the forest.
Among other things, criminal gangs demand ransom for their release. Others are kidnapped by Boko Haram extremists or other groups, such as those of more than 200 schoolgirls from Chibok, Borno state, whose fate attracted global attention in 2014.