Nigeria college assaults: 50 college students kidnapped from Catholic college reunited with households

[ad_1] Fifty college students who had been kidnapped from a Catholic college in northern Nigeria on Friday have returned to their households after they managed to flee, the Christian Affiliation of Nigeria (CAN) mentioned on Sunday.

Armed bandits kidnapped 303 kids and 12 academics from the St. Mary’s Non-public Catholic college within the nation’s north-central Niger State on Friday, in response to CAN. The scholars are each female and male, some as younger as ten.

“The pupils escaped between Friday and Saturday and have reunited with their dad and mom as they might not return to the college after they escaped,” spokesman for CAN’s Niger State chapter chairman Most. Rev. Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, Daniel Atori, mentioned in an announcement.

Atori mentioned 253 kids – together with 250 college students from the college and three kids belonging to highschool workers members – and 12 academics stay captive.

Pope Leo made an attraction for the discharge of the scholars and academics throughout his weekly handle of the Angelus prayer on Sunday, urging “the competent authorities to take applicable and well timed selections to make sure their launch.”

“I really feel nice ache, particularly for the various younger women and men who've been kidnapped and for his or her anguished households,” he mentioned.

Friday’s abduction is simply the newest in a wave of assaults by armed teams that focus on susceptible civilian populations and orchestrate mass abductions for ransom. It prompted some federal and state-run faculties in northern Nigeria to quickly near forestall additional assaults.

Earlier this week, gunmen launched an attack on a church in neighboring Kwara State. At the least two folks had been killed and several other worshippers, together with the pastor, had been kidnapped.

Armed males additionally kidnapped 25 female students once they stormed a authorities ladies’ boarding college in northwestern Kebbi State. The varsity’s vice principal was shot and killed throughout this assault.

The nation additionally faces religiously motivated assaults and different violent conflicts stemming from communal and ethnic tensions, in addition to disputes between farmers and herders over restricted entry to land and water sources.

US President Donald Trump has incessantly expressed outrage over disputed allegations of a “mass slaughter” of Christians by Islamist insurgents, even threatening army motion to guard Christians.

However the reality on the ground is extra advanced and nuanced. Specialists and analysts say each Christians and Muslims — the 2 primary spiritual teams in Africa’s most populous nation — have been victims of assaults by radical Islamists.

Secretary of Warfare Pete Hegseth met with Nigeria’s Nationwide Safety Advisor Mallam Nuhu Ribadu on Thursday to debate the violence within the West African nation.

“Below [Trump’s] management, [the Department of War] is working aggressively with Nigeria to finish the persecution of Christians by jihadist terrorists,” Hegseth mentioned on X.