At least 150 pupils missing in Nigeria after gunmen raid school in latest kidnapping
- The attack on the Bethel Baptist High School is the 10th mass school kidnapping since December in northwest Nigeria
- Police said gunmen attacked overnight and overpowered the school’s security guards, taking an unspecified number of pupils into a nearby forest
About 150 pupils are missing after armed men raided a boarding school in Nigeria’s Kaduna state, a parent and an administrator said on Monday, and police said they were in hot pursuit alongside military personnel.
The attack on the Bethel Baptist High School is the 10th mass school kidnapping since December in northwest Nigeria, which authorities have attributed to armed bandits seeking ransom payments.
Dozens of distraught parents gathered at the school compound, some weeping and crying out, standing in groups awaiting news. Discarded sandals lay strewn nearby. Dormitories containing metal bunk beds and cupboards were deserted.
“May God take away their tears and the suffering that they will face in the hands of the kidnappers,” said a woman pointing at a hole in the school’s perimeter where the attackers entered.
His voice breaking, parent John Evans said he had recently told his daughter that God would protect her while she studied at the school.
“Just this morning at about six, I received a phone call that they have entered the school … kidnappers, that all our children are packed [taken], including my daughter,” he said. “We rushed down here, we confirmed that they are all packed.”