Gunmen kidnapped 15 pupils from their Islamic seminary in northwestern Sokoto State Saturday, local sources said, days after the mass abduction of more than 280 schoolchildren in nearby Kaduna State.
Staff there said gunmen stormed GidanBakuso village in Gada district at around 0100 GMT Saturday, rounding up 15 pupils of the seminary as they slept outdoors.
“The gunmen were passing by the school with a woman they kidnapped from another part of town and the pupils were awoken by her cries,” said LimanAbubakar, the head of the seminary.
“The bandits seized 15 of the pupils, aged be-tween eight and 14, and took them away along with the woman,” he added.
KabiruDauda, a member of Sokoto state parliament from the region confirmed the abductions.
“I received a call early this morning from my constituency that bandits had taken 15 pupils from a seminary,” he said.
Already Friday, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu sent troops to rescue more than 250 pupils kidnapped by gunmen from a school in the northwest, one of the largest mass abductions in three years.
Northwest and central Nigeria has for years been terrorised by criminal gangs. Known as ban-dits, they raid villages, kidnap and kill residents as well burn homes after looting them. The gangs, who maintain camps in a vast forest, are also notorious for mass abductions from schools to extract ransom from parents and governments.—INP
