Abuja
Bandits have attacked Bethel Secondary School, Maramara in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State in north central Nigeria and abducted an unspecified number of students.
The Monday morning incident came less than 24 hours after a similar one involving the abduction of babies, nurses and security guards from the residential quarters of the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Centre (NTLC) in Zaria, in the same state.
The state Police Command, which could not confirm the number of students kidnapped from the boarding school, said that a joint security team comprising the police and the army had rescued 17 of the students.
“Yes, I can confirm to you that there was an incident at the school but the joint security team comprising the police, army and others have rescued 17 students,” said Mr Muhammed Jalige, the police public relations officer.
Mr Daniel Muhuta, a security guard, said the school was attacked at 1am on July 5, 2021.
“I escaped narrowly myself. They came around 1am and started shooting. I was at the back of the school dormitory when I heard the gunshots and decided to hide.”
Some of the rescued students reported that two soldiers were shot by the bandits, but they could not confirm if the soldiers died.
“Even the students who escaped were still in a state of confusion and could not tell the number of their mates the bandits went away with,” the source said.
Security personnel have cordoned off the area as worried parents and relatives of the kidnapped students besieged the school.
In the Zaria incident on July 4, the bandits stormed the area from a nearby forest and engaged police officers in a gun battle before they escaped with their victims,
The Kaduna Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr Samuel Aruwan, said Nigerian troops have intensified efforts to rescue the victims.
Kidnapping for ransom is becoming the norm in Kaduna and many other states in Nigeria despite efforts by security agencies to keep off the attackers.
No fewer than 1,680 students have been seized by marauding gunmen in the last five months in Kaduna, Katsina, Niger, Sokoto, Zamfara and Kebbi states, both in north west and north central Nigeria.
Boko Haram terrorists signalled the start of kidnapping of children and students when they attacked Government Girls Science Secondary School in Chibok, Borno state , abducting more than 276 schoolgirls on April 14, 2014.
