(Kano) At least 15 students from an Islamic school in Sokoto state in northwest Nigeria have been kidnapped by armed men, according to local sources.
This kidnapping took place just days after that of the 280 children kidnapped from the grounds of their establishment in Kaduna State on Thursday.
Armed men stormed the village of Gidan Bakuso in the Gada district on Saturday and kidnapped 15 students, according to Liman Abubakar, the school principal.
“The gunmen were walking past the establishment with a woman they had kidnapped from another part of the city. The students were awakened by his screams,” said Liman Abubakar.
PHOTO SUNDAY ALAMBA, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Soldiers patrol around the school where the kidnapping took place.
Then, “the bandits seized 15 students, aged 8 to 14, and took them with the woman,” he added.
Informal Islamic schools are widespread in northern Nigeria, which is predominantly Muslim, and whose students live mainly on alms and odd jobs.
Kabiru Dauda, a Sokoto state member of parliament from the area, confirmed the kidnapping.
“I received a call early this morning from my constituency that bandits had kidnapped 15 students from a school,” Mr. Dauda said.
Kidnappings are on the rise in the northwest of the country.
Victims are usually released after their relatives pay a ransom, while those who do not pay are killed by their captors and their bodies left in a forest.
In recent years, criminal gangs have repeatedly attacked schools, mainly in rural areas of Nigeria’s northern states.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu came to power in 2023 promising to tackle insecurity, fueled by jihadist groups, bandits in the northeast and surging intercommunal violence in central states. But critics say the violence is out of control.