About 150 students are missing in northwestern Nigeria after an attack on their secondary school. That’s what a school administrator and a parent of a missing student say to Reuters news agency.
Gunmen managed to overpower the security guards of the Christian boarding school in the night from Sunday to Monday. They then kidnapped a large group of students from their sleeping quarters and took the group to a nearby forest. According to the police, at least 25 children and a teacher managed to escape.
Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna has approximately 180 students. They took their exams the past few days.
Rebels and criminals
There are kidnappings in northwestern Nigeria everyday’s business. At least 1,000 students have been kidnapped in the region since December. Most children return, but more than 150 students are still missing.
Previously, terror groups Boko Haram and Islamic State responsible for kidnapping large groups of schoolchildren in Nigeria. Now it is mainly rebels and criminals who want to earn money with the kidnappings or get something done from the local rulers.
The attack on the Christian boarding school is presumably the work of such a militant group. On Sunday, a similar group also kidnapped six people from a hospital in the region.
Last February, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari urged local authorities to stop providing money and cars to rebels in exchange for the return of kidnapped children and adults. The policy would backfire, Buhari warned.
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