25 women kidnapped from highschool in Nigeria

[ad_1] ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Gunmen attacked a highschool in northwestern Nigeria earlier than daybreak on Monday, taking 25 schoolgirls and killing at the least one staffer, authorities mentioned of the most recent abduction of students in the region .

No group instantly claimed duty for abducting the girls from the boarding faculty in Kebbi state and their motivation was unclear.

Nigeria is dealing with a multidimensional security challenge , particularly from amorphous teams of armed bandits who concentrate on kidnapping for ransoms — generally totaling 1000's of {dollars} — and have been chargeable for a number of high-profile abductions throughout Nigeria’s northern area. Kidnappings, assaults on villages and alongside main roads have grow to be widespread due to the restricted safety presence.

These bandits aren't related to militant teams resembling Boko Haram and the splinter group Islamic State West Africa Province, whose assaults on communities and authorities installations are motivated by religion.

Police mentioned the boarding schoolgirls have been taken from their dorms at 4 a.m. Monday. The college is in Maga, within the state’s Danko-Wasagu space, police spokesperson Nafi’u Abubakar Kotarkoshi mentioned.

The assailants have been armed with “subtle weapons” and exchanged hearth with guards earlier than abducting the women, Kotarkoshi mentioned.

“A mixed workforce is at the moment combing suspected escape routes and surrounding forests in a coordinated search and rescue operation aimed toward recovering the kidnapped college students and arresting the perpetrators,” the spokesperson mentioned.

Kotarkoshi mentioned one particular person was killed and one other was injured, however a resident who mentioned his daughter and granddaughter have been kidnapped within the raid believes the loss of life toll stands at two.

“We have been advised that the attackers entered the varsity with many bikes. They first went straight to the instructor’s home and killed him earlier than killing the guard,” mentioned Abdulkarim Abdullahi Maga.

Police didn't reply to an Related Press name in search of affirmation of a second loss of life.

Armed teams have focused faculty youngsters within the area since 2014, when Boko Haram kidnapped 276 college students from Chibok in Borno state. That abduction marked the start of a brand new period of worry, and dozens stay in captivity.

For the reason that Chibok abductions, at least 1,500 students have been kidnapped, as armed teams more and more discover in abductions a profitable option to fund different crimes and management villages within the nation’s mineral-rich however poorly policed area. In March 2024, greater than 130 schoolchildren were rescued after spending greater than two weeks in captivity within the Nigerian state of Kaduna.

Nonetheless, raids on colleges have subsided lately as state governments applied safety measures in hotspots, together with closing colleges for an prolonged time period.

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Freelance journalist Mohammed Ibrahim in Kaduna, Nigeria, contributed.

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