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Nigerian army rescues abducted Kaduna students

Nigerian army rescues abducted Kaduna students

THE Nigerian army rescued students and staff who were abducted by gunmen from a school in the country's north earlier this month, the military said, days before the deadline for a ransom payment. School officials and residents had said 287 students were taken on March 7 in the town of Kuriga in the northwestern state of Kaduna. A military spokesperson said 137 hostages - 76 of them female and 61 male - were rescued in the early hours of Sunday in the neighbouring state of Zamfara. "In the early hours of 24 March 2024, the military working with local authorities…
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Gunmen kill 40 in attack at concert near Moscow, over 100 injured, Russia says

Gunmen kill 40 in attack at concert near Moscow, over 100 injured, Russia says

AT least 40 people were killed and over 100 hurt when gunmen in camouflage clothing opened fire with automatic weapons on people at a concert in the Crocus City Hall near Moscow, Russia's FSB security service said. In one of the worst such attacks in Russia in years, at least five gunmen were shown in unverified videos firing repeatedly at screaming civilians cowering in the concert hall as Soviet-era rock group "Picnic" was about to perform. The 6,200-seat concert hall in a suburb west of Moscow, which is near a shopping mall also called Crocus City, was sold out for…
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Gunmen in Nigeria kidnap about 100 in weekend attacks

Gunmen in Nigeria kidnap about 100 in weekend attacks

GUNMEN in Nigeria kidnapped around 100 people, including women and children, in two weekend attacks in Kaduna state, residents and police said. Kidnappings by criminal gangs demanding ransoms have become an almost daily occurrence in Nigeria, especially in the north, with authorities seemingly powerless to stop them. Kaduna police spokesperson Mansur Hassan confirmed the incident in Kajuru Station village on Sunday night but could not give a figure on those missing. He said security agents had been deployed to rescue the villagers. Tanko Wada Sarkin, a village head, said 87 people were taken. "We have so far recorded the return…
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Gunmen kidnap 15 students in dawn raid on Nigerian school

Gunmen kidnap 15 students in dawn raid on Nigerian school

GUNMEN kidnapped at least 15 students from a school in Nigeria's northwestern Sokoto state in a dawn raid, the school's owner and a resident said, days after some 300 students were abducted by a gang in northern Kaduna state. The gunmen forced their way into the school premises in the Sokoto village of Gidan Bakuso and started firing shots sporadically, waking and causing panic among the students, who ran for cover, said school owner Liman Abubakar Bakuso. "They succeeded in abducting 15 of my students, the oldest being 20 and 15, but all the others are below 13," said Bakuso by phone,…
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‘I forced her to go to school’, Nigerian mother cries after mass school abduction

‘I forced her to go to school’, Nigerian mother cries after mass school abduction

SEVEN-YEAR-OLD Safiya Kuriga complained she was feeling feverish but her mother still made her attend class. Within two hours, gunmen entered her school and kidnapped Safiya and some 300 other students in Nigeria's northern Kaduna state. "I forced her to go to school that morning despite her complaining to me of a fever," a sobbing Khadiya Kuriga told Reuters by phone from Kuriga town. "We have been crying since yesterday. Our children are hungry." Gunmen seized more than 300 primary and secondary school children between the ages of seven and 15, school authorities and parents said on Friday. Some students were later…
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Nigeria police repel attack by gunmen, one officer dies

Nigeria police repel attack by gunmen, one officer dies

A group of armed men attacked a police division in Zurmi town, in Nigeria's northwest Zamfara state, but were repelled by officers with casualties recorded on both sides, the police said. Gangs of heavily armed men referred to as bandits by locals have wreaked havoc across Nigeria's northwest in the past three years, kidnapping thousands, killing hundreds, and making it unsafe to travel by road or to farm in some areas. Zamfara police spokesperson Yazid Abubakar said suspected bandits wielding sophisticated weapons attacked the division late on Sunday, killing a senior officer and wounding two others. "The policemen on duty…
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Gunmen in Nigeria kidnap six students, three teachers in southwest

Gunmen in Nigeria kidnap six students, three teachers in southwest

GUNMEN in Nigeria kidnapped six students and three teachers from a school in southwestern Ekiti state on Monday night, the state government said, in the country's first reported abduction involving school children this year. Armed gangs have been abducting villagers, road travellers and students in return for ransom, as Africa's most populous nation grapples with widespread insecurity, which also includes a long-running Islamist insurgency in the northeast. The Ekiti state government said in a statement the latest abduction took place when the students and teachers were returning from a local trip on Monday night. The school bus driver was also…
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Sierra Leone charges ex-president’s guard, 11 others over failed coup

Sierra Leone charges ex-president’s guard, 11 others over failed coup

SIERRA Leone authorities have charged 12 people with treason in connection with a failed coup in November, including a member of former President Ernest Bai Koroma's security detail, the government said. Gunmen attacked a military barracks, a prison and other locations in Sierra Leone on November 26, freeing about 2,200 inmates and killing more than 20 people in what the authorities said afterwards was an attempt to overthrow the government. The accused were arraigned before a magistrate in the capital Freetown on Tuesday, the information ministry said in a statement, adding that they included ex-police and correctional officers and former Koroma…
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Two South Koreans released after being kidnapped in Nigeria

Two South Koreans released after being kidnapped in Nigeria

TWO South Koreans kidnapped by gunmen in Nigeria earlier this month have been released safely, Seoul's foreign ministry said. The two men were taken after gunmen ambushed their convoy in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta on December 12, killing four soldiers guarding the group and two civilian drivers. "On Friday, we secured custody of the two abducted Korean citizens," the ministry said in a statement. "Both people are currently in good health, and after a hospital checkup, they moved to a safe area and spoke with their families." Attacks by militants in the Niger Delta have dwindled over the years. But the region…
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Nigerian villagers missing two days after suspected nomadic herders kill 140

Nigerian villagers missing two days after suspected nomadic herders kill 140

NIGERIAN mother-of-three Grace Godwin was preparing food on Christmas Eve when her husband burst into the kitchen and ordered her and the children to run and take cover in the bush after gunmen were spotted in a nearby village. Soon they heard gunfire, starting an hours-long attack by suspected nomadic herders who rampaged through 15 villages in central Plateau state on Sunday, killing at least 140 people with guns and machetes, officials, police and residents said. It was the bloodiest violence since 2018 when more than 200 people were killed in Nigeria's central region where clashes between herders and farmers…
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