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Once again! In Nigeria, a gang attacked a school and kidnapped 333 children and youth at gunpoint. The incident occurred on Friday night at a state secondary school in the city of Kankara in the Katsina region, in the north of the country.
Police spokesman Gambo Isah said the perpetrators entered the school premises on motorcycles and that there was an entire squad of around 150 motorcyclists. Some of the kidnappers are said to have blocked access routes to the school to avoid outside help.
At the time of the crime, around 600 students were on the boarding school premises. According to the police chief, around 200 children and young people were able to escape, amid shootouts with the police.
Life for money
According to initial investigations, it could be criminals who kidnap people to extort money from them. The Islamist terror group Boko Haram has carried out similar attacks in the past. In 2014, the organization abducted 276 girls in the northeastern Nigerian city of Chibok, who were forcibly raped, converted and married. Some were later released, but more than 100 young women remain in detention.
Meanwhile, the military has apparently found the place where the 333 youths kidnapped on Friday are being hidden. In an interview with the BBC, Garba Shehu, spokesman for President Muhammadu Buhari (77), said that there was a “massive mobilization” of troops to rescue the kidnapped children. Shots had already occurred.
There is a risk of bloodbath
According to Shehu, the soldiers surrounded the hideout in a forest to attack at the appropriate time. Shehu: “The criminal elements, these bandits, will be destroyed. They will be eliminated. “
But the operation is complicated: the kidnappers are equipped with submachine guns, possibly with other deadly weapons. It cannot be ruled out that an intervention could result in a bloodbath!
Fear of attack at Christmas
Many parents persevere in school. You are full of worry. Abubakar Lawal from Zaria, a city about 120 kilometers away, misses two of his three children. “I came here immediately and I pray that Allah Almighty saves our people.”
The newspaper “Punch” reported on the protests in Katsina on Sunday, which were also directed against the government. The protesters had shouted “We want our children to return” and “We want safety in Kankara.”
The Archbishop of the capital, the Diocese of Abuja, Ignatius Kaigama, expressed concern about the upcoming Christmas festival: “Christmas is the biggest festival in Nigeria, when many people visit their families. I’m afraid that criminal gangs will use the Christmas season to ambush, rob and kidnap people. “(Gf)
