Again, gunmen kidnap 15 schoolchildren in northern Nigeria
Nigeria’s battle with the rising spate of mass kidnappings is far from over. In the early hours of Saturday, gunmen launched a raid on a school in the northwestern Sokoto state, kidnapping at least 15 students.
The assailants, who entered the premises of the school located in the village of Gidan Bakuso, Sokoto, fired shots indiscriminately, creating panic among the students who fled for safety.
The incident occurred just days after another abduction incident in northern Kaduna State, where over 200 schoolchildren were kidnapped by a criminal gang.
The school owner, Liman Abubakar Bakus, confirmed that the gunmen succeeded in abducting 15 of his students, the oldest being 20 and 15, but all the others are below 13.
He told Reuters news agency that a woman had also been kidnapped, leaving the community in a state of panic following the incident.
Boko Haram terrorists are known for mass kidnapping in Nigeria, as they gained global attention after kidnapping 200 students from a girls’ school in Chibok, Borno State.
However, other armed gangs with no ideological affiliation have joined the Boko Haram group in deploying the same strategy to seek ransom payments to fund their criminal activities.
The Nigerian government has promised to hunt down the terrorists behind the unpatriotic acts while calling for calm.
