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A group of girls who were abducted from a boarding school in Nigeria have been released and are “safe,” the reports say.
Gunmen 279 kidnapped students from the Girls’ Science High School in Jangebe city, Zamfara state, on Friday.
But state governor Dr. Bello Matawalle says the girls “are now safe.”
The men who looted the school had also attacked a nearby military camp and checkpoint, preventing the soldiers from intervening.
Lawani Adali, the security man on duty that day, said policemen and guards could not enter because armed men had blocked all entrances.
Lawani Adali, the security man on duty the day of the attack
He said there were loud shots while shouting “Allahu akbar” – “God is great”.
Sky News Africa correspondent John Sparks said about 100 gunmen dressed in military uniforms carrying automatic weapons had taken the girls.
About 50 had managed to escape by hiding under beds and in bathrooms, he added.
Several large groups of armed men operate in the state of Zamfara, described by the government as bandits, and are known to kidnap for money and to free their members from jail.
The government has repeatedly denied having paid ransoms.
But President Muhammadu Buhari issued a statement on Friday urging state governments to “review their policy of rewarding bandits with money and vehicles, warning that the policy could have a disastrous effect.”
The men who looted the school had also attacked a nearby military camp, preventing the soldiers from intervening. Photo: TheCable
Sparks said the latest incident raised more questions about the bailout debate.
“Was money paid? This is becoming a growing industry in Nigeria.
“It happens frequently: criminal gangs or bandits who take advantage of the precarious security situation in the northern and central areas.”
Such kidnappings in Nigeria were carried out first by the jihadist group Boko Haram, and later by its branch of the Islamic State of the West African Province, but the tactic has now been adopted by other criminal gangs.
The raid in Zamfara state was the second such kidnapping in just over a week in the Northwest, a region increasingly targeted by criminal gangs.
On Saturday, gunmen released 27 teenagers who were abducted from their school on February 17 in the north-central state of Niger.
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