MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) – Armed men in Nigeria on Saturday released 27 teenage boys abducted from their school in the northern state of Niger last week, while security forces were still searching for more than 300 schoolgirls abducted in a nearby state.
Schools have become targets for mass kidnappings for ransoms in northern Nigeria by armed groups, many of whom carry guns and ride motorcycles.
On February 17, 27 students, three staff members and 12 members of their families were abducted by an armed gang that stormed Government Science High School in Kagara District in the state of Nigeria, which overwhelmed security details. One boy died during the raid.
After their release, a Reuters witness was seen as boys walk through a dusty village with armed security, some struggling to stand and asking for water. A government official said the boys were between 15 and 18 years old.
“The kidnapped students, staff and relatives of the Collage Kagara government have regained their freedom and have been received by the Nigerian government,” Governor Abubakar Sani Bello said in a tweet.
The release of the schoolboys comes just a day after the raid on a school in the state of Zamfara where armed men seized 317 girls.
“As we welcome the news of the release of the abducted Kagara students, I call on the government to expedite the action against the release and safe return of the abducted students of the Jangebe government,” Peter Hawkins said. representative of UNICEF, Nigeria, said.
The recent attacks have raised concerns about increasing violence by armed gangs and Islamic insurgents. The jihadist group Boko Haram is carrying out kidnappings in the turbulent northeast of Nigeria, as well as a branch of the Islamic State.
The unrest has become a political issue for President Muhammadu Buhari, a retired general and former military ruler who has been increasingly criticized over the past few months over attacks by gangs known locally as ‘bandits’.
Buhari replaces his longtime military chiefs this month amid worsening violence in Nigeria.
In December, gunmen raided a school in the northwestern state of Katsina and abducted nearly 350 boys, who were later rescued by security forces.
Violence and insecurity have exacerbated the economic challenges facing citizens in Africa’s most populous country and top oil exporter, which in addition to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is struggling to cope with a drop in revenue offers due to a decline in crude prices.
The most notable kidnapping of the school was that of more than 270 schoolgirls who abducted Boko Haram from the city of Chibok in 2014. About 100 of them remain missing.
(Reported by Maiduguri Newsroom and Alexis Akwagyiram in Lagos; Written by Chijioke Ohuocha; Edited by Toby Chopra and Alexander Smith)