LAGOS, Nigeria – Gunmen have abducted 317 girls from a boarding school in northern Nigeria, police said, the latest in a series of mass abductions of students in the West African nation.
Police and the army have started joint operations to rescue the girls after the attack on the government girls’ high school in Jangebe town, according to a Zamfara state police spokesman, Mohammed Shehu, who confirmed the kidnapped number.
A parent, Nasiru Abdullahi, told The Associated Press that his daughters, aged 10 and 13, are among the missing.
“It is disappointing that although the army has a strong presence near the school, they have not been able to protect the girls,” he said. “At this stage, we hope only for divine intervention.”
Resident Musa Mustapha said gunmen also attacked a military camp and a nearby checkpoint, preventing soldiers from intervening while gunmen spent several hours at school. It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties.
Several large groups of armed men operate in Zamfara state, described by the government as bandits, and are known to kidnap for money and push for the release of their members from prison.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said on Friday that the government’s main goal is to get all the hostages of the school back safe, alive and unharmed.
“We will not give in to blackmail by bandits and criminals targeting innocent students in anticipation of huge ransom payments,” he said. “Do not let bandits, kidnappers and terrorists have any illusions that they are stronger than the government. They should not confuse our limitation with humanitarian goals of protecting innocent lives as a weakness or a sign of fear or unresolved. ”
He called on state governments to review their policy of making payments in cash or vehicles to bandits.
“Such a policy has the potential to return with disastrous consequences,” Buhari said. He also said that state and local governments must play their part, being proactive in improving security in and around schools.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has strongly condemned the abductions and called for the “immediate and unconditional release” of girls and the safe return of their families, calling the attacks on schools a serious violation of human and children’s rights, he said. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric. .
The UN chief reaffirmed the UN’s support for the Nigerian government and people “in their fight against terrorism, violent extremism and organized crime,” Dujarric said, urging Nigerian authorities “not to work to bring those responsible to justice.” crime”.
“We are outraged and saddened by another brutal attack on Nigerian schoolchildren,” said Peter Hawkins, UNICEF’s representative in the country. “This is a serious violation of children’s rights and a horrible experience that children have to go through.” He demanded their immediate release.
Nigeria has seen several such attacks and abductions over the years, most notably the April 2014 mass abduction of the Boko Haram jihadist group of 276 girls at Chibok High School in Borno State. More than a hundred girls are still missing.
Friday’s attack came less than two weeks after gunmen abducted 42 people, including 27 students, from Government Science College Kagara in Niger. Students, teachers and family members are still being held.
In December, 344 students were abducted from Kankara High School of Science in Katsina State. They were eventually released.
Anietie Ewang, a Nigerian researcher at Human Rights Watch, noted the recent abductions and wrote on Twitter that “strong action is needed on the part of the authorities to change the tide and keep schools safe.”
Amnesty International also condemned the “terrible attack”, warning in a statement that “abducted girls are at serious risk of being injured”.
Teachers have been forced to flee to other states for protection and many children have been forced to drop out of school amid frequent violent attacks in communities, Amnesty said.
———
AP writer Carley Petesch from Dakar, Senegal, contributed to the report.