Gunmen escape with children from a public primary school in Kuriga town, Kaduna state.
Gunmen attacked a school in northwestern Nigeria and kidnapped dozens of students as they were about to start school, local residents and authorities said.
Police in Kaduna State did not immediately comment on the kidnapping that occurred at the Local Government Education Agency School in Kuriga town on Thursday.
The number of students hired was not immediately disclosed.
The attackers attacked the school around 8 a.m. (7 p.m. Japan time) just after the morning assembly and took the students hostage before help arrived, local youth leader Joshua Madami told The Associated Press. Told.
“They were surrounded from all sides and left stranded along with about 200 pupils and students,” Madami said.
Sarasi Musa, chairman of Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna, said the number of abducted students was “well over 100”.
Kidnappings of school students in northern Nigeria are common and have been a cause for concern since Boko Haram kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls in Chibok village in Borno state in 2014.
In recent years, abductions have been concentrated in the northwestern and central regions, where dozens of armed groups often target villagers and tourists for large ransoms.
The last reported large-scale kidnapping involving schoolchildren was in June 2021, when armed groups attacked a school in northwestern Kebbi state and took more than 80 students.
“I don't know what to do.”
Parents of the missing children told Reuters that when the gunmen arrived at the school, they began firing sporadically, then abducted the children and fled.
This school educates elementary and junior high school students.
“We don't know what to do either. We're all waiting to see what God will do. They're the only children I have on earth.” Fatima Usman, whose two children were among those kidnapped, told Reuters by phone.
Another parent, Hassan Abdullahi, told Reuters that local vigilante groups tried to fight off the gunmen but were overwhelmed.
“Seventeen of the abducted students are my children. I am very disappointed that the government is completely ignoring us in this area,” Abdullahi said.