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The parents gathered today at a secondary school in Nigeria’s northwestern Katsina state, begging authorities to save hundreds of children abducted by gunmen.
The army had exchanged gunfire with a gang that took students from the government’s all-boys science school in Kankara, a spokesman for the president said last night.
Today, parents said they had heard little else about the fate of their children.
Abubakar Lawal came from Zaria, a city 120 kilometers south of Kankara, after learning that two of his three children at school were among those missing.
“Since yesterday I have been here, praying that the Almighty Allah would rescue our people,” he said outside the dusty school grounds.
One of her missing sons, Buhari, 17, was named after President Muhammadu Buhari, a native of Katsina state. Anas, 16, was also missing.
Lawal said the school principal turned to the parents and told them to pray.
Murja Mohammed, whose son was also kidnapped, asked the authorities for help.
“If it is not the government that will help us, we have no power to rescue our children,” he told Reuters.
The president’s office declined to comment and referred inquiries to the police. The military and police did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Some children interviewed by Reuters said they had escaped from the forest where the gunmen took them, but it was not immediately clear how many remained in captivity or what the group wanted.
Attacks by armed gangs, commonly known as bandits, are common throughout northwestern Nigeria. The groups often attack civilians, robbing them or kidnapping them for ransom.
Islamist militants, attacking civilian and security targets, are more common in the northeastern part of the country.
There is growing outrage over the precarious security situation in Nigeria, the most populous nation in Africa.
At the end of last month, Islamist militants killed dozens of farmers in the northeastern state of Borno and beheaded some of them.
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