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Agence France-Presse

Gunmen kidnapped scores of children from an Islamic seminary in central Nigeria, officials said, the latest in a string of such incidents plaguing the populous African nation.
Some 200 children were at the school in Niger state on Sunday during the attack, the local government tweeted, adding “an unconfirmed number” were taken.
Nigerian media outlets reported that the gunmen abducted as many as 200 children.
The abduction came a day after 14 students from a university in northwestern Nigeria were freed after 40 days in captivity.
Chinese gold mining workers kidnapped in Nigeria by armed gang
Niger state police spokesman Wasiu Abiodun said the attackers arrived on motorbikes in Tegina town and started shooting indiscriminately, killing one resident and injuring another, before kidnapping the children from the Salihu Tanko Islamic school.
The school’s owner, Abubakar Tegina, said that he witnessed the attack.
“I personally saw between 20 and 25 motorcycles with heavily armed people. They entered the school and went away with about 150 or more of the students,” said Tegina, who lives around 150 metres from the school.


“We can’t be exact because most of them have not reported to the school as at that time,” he said, when asked for further details of the number taken.
The state government, in a series of tweets, said the attackers had released 11 of the pupils who were “too small and couldn’t walk” very far.
In a later Twitter thread, the state added the governor Sani Bello had directed “security agencies to bring back [the] children as soon as possible”.
Armed gangs are terrorising inhabitants in northwest and central Nigeria by looting villages, stealing cattle, and taking people hostage.
Mass school abduction foiled by security forces in Nigeria
Such seizures have become a frequent way for criminals to collect ransoms.
Since December 2020, before the attack on Sunday, 730 children and students had been kidnapped.
On April 20, gunmen known locally as “bandits” stormed Greenfield University in northwestern Nigeria and kidnapped around 20 students, killing a member of the school’s staff in the process.
Five students were executed a few days later to force families and the government to pay a ransom.
Fourteen were released on Saturday.

Local press said that the families had paid a ransom totalling 180 million naira (US$440,000) for their release.
Africa’s most populous country has been plagued by kidnappings for years, with criminals largely targeting the wealthy and prominent.
But more recently, the pool of victims has expanded with the poor now also taken for ransom.
The criminal gangs maintain camps in the Rugu forest which straddles northern and central Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna and Niger states.
Their motives have been financial with no ideological leanings, but there is growing concern they are being infiltrated by jihadists from the northeast waging a 12-year-old insurrection to establish an Islamic state.
The kidnappings in the northwest are also complicating challenges facing Buhari’s security forces, battling a more than decade-long northeast Islamist insurgency.
Additional reporting by Reuters and DPA


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Africa

Gunmen abduct as many as 200 children from school in Nigeria

A kidnapped girl reunites with a family member in March after gunmen kidnapped students from a boarding school in northwestern Nigeria in February. File photo: AFP

This Saturday, Feb. 27, 2021 photo shows a dormitory inside the Government Girls Junior Secondary School from where more than 300 girls were abducted on Friday by gunmen, in Jangebe town, Zamfara state, northern Nigeria. Nigerian police and the military have begun joint operations to rescue the more than 300 girls who were kidnapped from the boarding school, according to a police spokesman. (AP Photo/Ibrahim Mansur)

82 Chibok schoolgirls freed in Nigeria three years after abduction by Boko Haram militants shocked the world

School girls abducted from the northeastern town of Chibok in 2014. File photo: AP

epa05948567 A handout photo made available by The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva, Swtzerland, 07 May 2017 showing some of the ICRC vehicles transporting the 82 released Nigerian, Chibok, school girls to the Banki military base, Nigeria. Media reports on 07 May state that 82 schoolgirls part of the 276 youngsters Boko Haram, an Islamist militant group, abducted in north-eastern Nigeria three years ago have been freed on 06 May 2017 in after negotiations in exchange for Boko Haram suspects held by the Nigerian authorities. The ICRC acted as a neutral intermediary, and the ICRC transported the 82 ChibokGirls to the government of Nigeria. EPA/ICRC / HANDOUT MANDATORY CREDIT: ICRC HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

(FILES) -- A screengrab taken on October 2, 2014 from a video released by the Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram and obtained by AFP shows the leader of the Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau. Boko Haram has seized the town of Chibok in Borno state, northeast Nigeria, from where 276 schoolgirls were kidnapped more than six months ago, a local pastor and a senator told AFP on November 14, 2014. "Chibok was taken by Boko Haram. They are in control," said Enoch Mark, a Christian pastor whose daughter and niece are among the 219 teenagers still being held. Mark and the senator for southern Borno, Ali Ndume, said the militants attacked at about 4:00 pm (1500 GMT) on November 13, destroying communications masts and forcing residents to flee. AFP PHOTO / HO / BOKO HARAM = RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / BOKO HARAM" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS =

(FILES) This file photo taken on October 19, 2016 shows 21 Chibok girls who were released by Boko Haram a week before, attending a meeting with the Nigerian President at the State House in Abuja, Nigeria. At least 80 schoolgirls who were among more than 200 kidnapped by Boko Haram in northeast Nigeria in 2014 have been released, security sources, a senior minister and the father of two of them told AFP on May 6, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / Philip OJISUA

Chinese gold mining workers kidnapped in Nigeria by armed gang

Chinese companies are working in Nigeria on projects such as mining, railways, airports and roads. Photo: Shutterstock

Gang frees victims of  Nigeria school abduction a day after second kidnapping

The signpost of the Government Science College where gunmen kidnapped dozens of pupils and staff in Kagara, Nigeria on February 18. Photo: AFP

FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari speaks after security forces rescued schoolboys from kidnappers, in Katsina, Nigeria, December 18, 2020. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde/File Photo/File Photo

Police officers walk at the JSS Jangebe school, a day after over 300 school girls were abducted by bandits, in Zamfara, Nigeria February 27, 2021. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

Gunmen abduct 317 girls from school in Nigeria in latest kidnapping incident

A protester prepares a ‘Bring Back Our Girls’ poster during a 2014 demonstration against the kidnapping of girls in Nigeria. File photo: DPA

News

World


Kidnappings for ransom common in restive northwest
More than 700 students abducted since December



Gunman shooting indiscriminately snatched the children from an Islamic seminary in central Nigeria.


Gunmen abduct as many as 200 children from school in Nigeria

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Kidnappings for ransom common in restive northwest More than 700 students abducted since December

Kidnappings for ransom common in restive northwest

More than 700 students abducted since December