Armed men, allegedly members of a criminal gang, broke into a school in central Nigeria, killing one student and kidnapping dozens of other students, teachers and relatives, a government official said on Wednesday.
President Muhammadu Buhari, responding to the latest abduction attack at a Nigerian school, ordered security forces to coordinate a rescue operation, his office said.
Forty-two people were apprehended when armed men dressed in military uniforms invaded the Government Science College (GSC) in the city of Kagara, in the state of Niger, before transporting the victims of the kidnapping to a nearby forest.
The new count came after initial reports from a government official and a source of assurance that hundreds of students were removed from the school, where they were staying in dormitories.
“They kidnapped 42 people from the school. They took 27 students, along with three teachers. One student was killed. They also kidnapped 12 members of the teachers’ family,” said Muhammad Sani Idris, a spokesman for the state government of Niger, to the AFP by phone.
He said 650 students were at the school when it was attacked on Tuesday.
Heavily armed gangs, known locally as “bandits” in northwest and central Nigeria, have intensified attacks in recent years, kidnapping for ransom, rape and pillaging.
President Buhari, 78, condemned the kidnapping and ordered security forces to coordinate a student rescue operation.
“The president instructed the Armed Forces and the Police to ensure the immediate and safe return of all prisoners,” said presidential spokesman Garba Shehu in a statement, without giving details of the number of missing persons.
Just two months ago, more than 300 students were kidnapped from a school in Kankara, Katsina state.
The boys were later released after negotiations with government officials, but the incident sparked global outrage.
– Tracking bandits –
Kidnapping gangs in northwest and central Nigeria are just a challenge in Africa’s most populous country, where security forces face jihadists in the northeast, ethnic clashes and piracy in the south.
The government official said some students had escaped and a security source said earlier that an employee count was underway to confirm how many students were kidnapped.
Air support troops were tracking the bandits for a possible rescue operation, the source said.
The region is increasingly becoming a center for criminal gangs that invade villages, killing and kidnapping residents after looting and burning houses.
The bandits are known to hide in fields in the Rugu forest, which lies between the states of Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna and Niger. Despite the deployment of troops, deadly attacks persist.
Gangs are largely driven by financial reasons and have no known ideological tendencies.
But there is growing concern that they are being infiltrated by northeastern jihadists who are waging a decade-long rebellion to establish an Islamic state.
The latest kidnapping incident came almost three years after 111 girls were kidnapped by jihadists in Dapchi and six years after 276 girls were taken from Chibok in an operation that shocked the world.
“Nigeria must declare a state of emergency because of insecurity,” said Idayat Hassan, director of the Center for Studies in Democracy and Development, based in Abuja.
“The government must urgently protect schools as well, or (the) attacks on schools in Chibok, Dapchi and Kankara will encourage others to do worse.”
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