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New abduction at Nigeria school, hundreds feared missing
KANO, Nigeria, Feb 26, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Suspected armed bandits raided a
school dormitory in northwestern Nigeria overnight, a teacher and parent told
AFP on Friday, raising fears of another mass kidnapping in the region.
“More than 300 girls are unaccounted for after a headcount of remaining
students,” said a teacher at the Government Girls Secondary School Jangebe
who asked to remain anonymous.
He said the attack happened around 1:00 am (midnight GMT) but did not
provide details on the number of students present in the school at the time.
Heavily-armed criminal gangs in northwest and central Nigeria have stepped
up attacks in recent years, kidnapping for ransom, raping and pillaging.
Just last week, 42 people were taken by a gang from a school in nearby
Niger state.
In December, more than 300 boys were kidnapped from a school in December
in Kankara, President Muhammadu Buhari’s home state of Katsina, while he was
visiting the region.
The boys were later released but the incident triggered outrage and
memories of the kidnappings of schoolgirls by jihadists in Dapchi and Chibok
that shocked the world.
– Security challenge –
A parent told AFP he had received a call about the latest incident in
Zamfara.
“I’m on my way to Jangebe. I received a call that the school was invaded
by bandits who took away schoolgirls. I have two daughters in the school,”
said Sadi Kawaye.
Police have not yet confirmed the incident.
Kidnappings are just one security challenge facing Africa’s most populous
country, where militants are waging a jihadist insurgency in the northeast
and ethnic tensions are simmering in some southern regions.
Northwest and central Nigeria have increasingly become a hub for large
criminal gangs who raid villages, killing and abducting residents after
looting and torching homes.
Bandits operate out of camps in Rugu forest, which straddles Zamfara,
Katsina, Kaduna and Niger states.
Nigerian armed forces have deployed there but attacks and mass kidnappings
persist.
The gangs are largely driven by financial motives and have no known
ideological leanings.
But there are concerns they are being infiltrated by jihadists who are
fighting out a decade-old conflict that has killed more than 30,000 people
and spread into neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
BSS/AFP/BZC/1540HRS