KADUNA: Gunmen have kidnapped 140 students from a boarding school in northwestern Nigeria, an official said today (Monday), the latest in a wave of mass abductions targeting schoolchildren.
According to details, the gunmen opened fire and overpowered security guards after storming the Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna state, abducting most of the 165 pupils boarding there overnight.
“The kidnappers took away 140 students, only 25 students managed to escape. We still have no idea where the students were taken,” Emmanuel Paul, a teacher at the school told an international news agency.
Kaduna state police spokesman Muhammed Jalige has also confirmed the mass abduction, but could not give details on the number of pupils taken. “Tactical police teams went after the kidnappers,” he said, adding, “We are still on the rescue mission.”
Heavily-armed criminal gangs often attack villages to loot, steal cattle and abduct for ransom in northwest and central Nigeria, but since the start of the year they have increasingly targeted schools and colleges.
Around 1,000 students and pupils have been abducted in Nigeria since December. Most have been released after negotiations with local officials, although some are still being held.
Often, gangs target rural schools and colleges where students stay in dormitories and security is light, allowing them to easily transport large numbers of victims to forest hideouts to negotiate ransoms.
