LAGOS, Nigeria – Boko Haram militants on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the abduction of hundreds of boys from a school in the northern Nigerian state of Katsina, one of the largest such attacks in years, raising fears of a growing wave of violence in the area. .
More than 30 students have gone missing after gunmen stormed their school in Kankara’s Government Science Secondary School on Friday night, although many others have managed to escape.
Garba Shehu, a spokeswoman for Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, said the government and the attackers were negotiating the future of the boys.
During a conversation with Katsina Governor Aminu Masari, Shehu said on Twitter that the kidnappers had contacted him about safety and return to his home and discussions had already taken place. No official said the conversation was with Boko Haram or another group.
“Security agencies deployed for the rescue operation have also informed us that they are located in their position,” Masari said.
The Daily Nigerian said it had received an audio Dio message claiming Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau had been abducted, although its authenticity had not been independently verified.
Islamic extremist groups have also abducted students in the past. The most serious was in April 2014, when more than 270 schoolgirls were taken from their hostel at a government secondary school in Chibok, in the northeastern state of Borno. About 100 girls are still missing.
In February 2014, 59 boys were killed during a Boko Haram attack on the Federal Government College Boone Yadi in Yobe State.
In an audio Dio message about Friday’s attack, Shekau said his group kidnapped the schoolboy because Western education is against the inns of Islam.
More than 600 students attend the school. State police spokesman Gambo Isa said many of the attackers and police managed to escape during a gun battle.
The students approached the account with various news agencies, saying that many of them were also gathered and forced to move to a nearby forest, where some were even able to escape.
The state of Katsina is located in northern Nigeria where many armed groups are active. It was originally believed that the attackers were bandits, who sometimes worked with Boko Haram.
The bandits have been operating in the Northwest Territories for some time, and kidnappings have increased in recent years. Amnesty International says more than 1,100 people have been killed in violence related to bandit attacks in the first six months of 2020.
A joint rescue operation was launched by the Nigerian police, air force and army on Saturday after they were engaged in a gun battle with military bandits after finding their military bases in the Zango / Paula forest.
If Boko Haram proves to be behind the abduction, it means a new wave of religious extremism is on the rise in Nigeria. For more than 10 years, the group has been engaged in a bloody campaign to introduce strict Islamic rule, but it is mainly active in northwestern Nigeria, where the state of Katsina is located. Violence has killed thousands and displaced more than a million.
Namdi Abbasi, of the International Crisis Group, said moving Boko Haram’s activities to the northwest would have serious security implications, as it could partner with other armed criminal groups known to carry out attacks and collect payments from homes and markets.
“They are IK mini-forces capable of dealing with the defamation of the security forces, and that is worrying,” Obasi told the Associated Press.
However, local armed groups have no religious ideology, and Obasi said Boko Haram’s movement in the northwest would “threaten coordination between criminal groups and jihadist groups.” This route is very disruptive. “
Because the North West is a more uniform Islam than the North East, there are more potential recruits for radicalism.
Friday’s abduction has become a cry of sorrow for Nigerians fed up with the escalating violence, with #BringBackOurBoys trending on Twitter as people express their frustration. Such an international rally for #bringbackovergirls chibok girls became a cry.
Mallam Saidu Fantua, a member of a local civil society organization in Katsina State, said, “At first, he has been terrorizing bandits and kidnappers in our state, but little has been done to alleviate the situation.”
He added that “the abduction of students was the height of it all. That is unacceptable and the government will have to do more to protect students and residents.
The attack was a major blow to education in Katsina, which began making progress in enrollment, he said, adding that “our people will be disappointed in sending their children to school.”
Gamlok Laul Muhammad of Kankara said most of the residents were scared and shocked by the attack.
“We’ve never experienced this kind of thing before,” he said. “We want the government to do more to protect our children, especially now that schools will resume after the Covid-19 break.”
Boko Haram and the Nigerian military could be investigated for insurgent war crimes, which have lasted more than a decade.
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said last week that it had found sufficient evidence to launch a full-scale investigation into allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity by Boko Haram extremists, as well as allegations that Nigerian government forces had committed atrocities.
Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said Boko Haram and its affiliates have committed crimes including murder, rape, sexual slavery and torture, as well as deliberately targeting schools and places of worship and using child soldiers, a “reasonable ground to believe”. While most of the criminal activity in the conflict has been carried out by Boko Haram, the prosecution has also admitted that members of Nigeria’s security forces have committed crimes, he said.
At least 10,000 civilians have died in Nigerian military custody since 2011 after being detained in connection with the Boko Haram uprising in northern Nigeria, Amnesty International said in a report last week.
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