Government vows to hunt down terrorists following abduction of 287 schoolchildren in northern Nigeria
Authorities in Kaduna State, Northwest Nigeria, say security officials are trailing the armed terrorists who abducted school children in their place of learning earlier on Thursday.
Kaduna State was thrown into chaos after 287 schoolchildren including the headteacher were kidnapped by gunmen in the northern Nigeria State.
The incident highlighted the second mass abduction in the West African nation in less than a week.
Reports say the assailants surrounded the government-owned school in Kaduna State’s Kuriga town just as the pupils were about to start the school day.
Authorities had earlier announced that more than 100 students were taken hostage in the attack.
One of the headteachers, however, confirmed to the Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani when he visited the town where the attack took place that that the total number of those missing after a headcount was 287.
The state governor, in his visit to the school, vowed that the pupils would be rescued and reunited with their parents soon.
“We will do whatever we need to do to ensure the safe return of these children. They are my children also it is our responsibility as a government to ensure security,” Mr Sani said.
He explained that he notified President Bola Tinubu and the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, about the incident before travelling to the scene of the attack.
Mass kidnapping of schoolchildren in northern Nigeria are common since the 2014 abduction of over 200 schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno state.
In recent years, the abductions have become dominant in the northwestern and central regions, where hundreds of armed groups frequently target villagers and travelers for large ransom payments.
