kidnapped students - The African Mirror

Mar

2024

Nigerian village celebrates the return of kidnapped students

THE whole village of Kuriga ran towards the convoy of buses shouting "Our children are back!" and "Alhamdulillah," meaning "Thank you, God", to welcome home more than 100 students and staff who were abducted this month in Nigeria's northwest. The army announced on Sunday it had rescued 137 hostages - 76 female and 61 male - in the neighbouring state of Zamfara, days before a deadline to pay a 1 billion naira ($767,000) ransom for their release. The students described being marched through the forest for more than two weeks in an attempt to hide from authorities, having to sleep under trees,…

Mar

2024

By GARBA MUHAMMAD

More than 100 kidnapped Nigerian students arrive back in Kaduna

NEWS

WRAPPED in orange headscarves and blue school uniforms, over 100 Nigerian students and staff who were kidnapped this month arrived at the local government building in the country's north, a day after they were freed by the army. "There are 131 students, six others are currently being hospitalized and will be eventually discharged when they get better," said Major General MLD Saraso of the Nigerian army. He said one of the 138 people abducted, a school staff member, had died in captivity. The army announced on Sunday it had rescued 137 hostages - 76 female and 61 male - in…

Mar

2024

By The African Mirror

Nigerian army rescues 17 students kidnapped in northwest Sokoto

NEWS

NIGERIA'S army has rescued 17 students and a woman who were kidnapped in a dawn raid by armed men two weeks ago in northwest Sokoto state, the state governor said. The attack at Tsangaya school on March 9 came two days after the mass abduction of schoolchildren in Kaduna, also in the north. Those students are still missing. Sokoto Governor Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto said the Tsangaya students were freed on Friday following an operation coordinated by the army and the office of the National Security Adviser. "All the children have been found healthy and are ready to be reunited with their parents," he said…

Mar

2024

By GARBA MUHAMMAD and HAMZA IBRAHIM

Nigerian army hunts for kidnapped students, parents seek answers

NEWS

NIGERIAN soldiers were hunting for armed kidnappers who seized nearly 300 school pupils in Kaduna state last week, a security source said, as distraught parents sought answers on when they would be reunited with their children. The source said the army's Kaduna-based One Division was leading the operation and "will soon have the bandits in their sights". The soldiers were backed by the local police, intelligence agency and air force, as well as the Kaduna state vigilance service, a vigilante group that knows the local terrain, the source added. "The security agencies and the state government are working tirelessly to ensure the…

Jun

2023

By The African Mirror

Massacre aftermath: Ugandan army rescues three students

NEWS

THE Ugandan military has rescued three of the six students who were kidnapped by Islamist fighters when they stormed a school in the west of the country last week and massacred 42 people, mostly young students, the army said. "There were six students kidnapped and three have so far been rescued," said military spokesman Felix Kulayigye. A woman with two children who had been kidnapped outside the school was also rescued, together with her children, while two militants were killed and two guns captured, Kulayigye said. On Friday night a group of fighters from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

FACTBOX-The violence and insecurity affecting Nigeria

NEWS

LIBBY GEORGE UNREST and violence are worsening across Nigeria, where gunmen in the northwest were reported to have kidnapped around 30 students from a forestry college overnight in the fourth mass school abduction since December. Growing public anger prompted President Muhammadu Buhari to replace his military high command earlier this year. Here is a summary of the violence: ARMED GANGS, NORTHWEST/NORTH-CENTRAL NIGERIA Armed gangs that rob and kidnap for ransom, commonly described as "bandits", are active across the northwest. Such groups killed more than 1,100 people in the first half of 2020 alone, according to rights group Amnesty International. In…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

Nigerian military in firefight with gang who kidnapped students

NEWS

THE Nigerian military had located and exchanged fire with gunmen who kidnapped scores of secondary school students in northwestern Katsina state, according to a statement from the president. The gang, armed with AK-47s, stormed the Government Science secondary school in Kankara district at about 9:40 p.m. on Friday, police and locals said. A parent and school employee told Reuters that roughly half of the school's 800 students were missing. President Muhammadu Buhari said in a statement that the military had located the kidnappers in a forest and was exchanging fire with them, aided by air support. In the statement, Buhari…