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Nigeria: Hundreds of students feared abducted by gunmen
[DW] An armed gang has stormed a secondary school in northern Nigeria, prompting a shootout with the country's military and police. Search and rescue operations are underway to find the scores of missing students.Hundreds of students are missing after button men attacked a school in the northern Nigerian state of Katsina, police said on Saturday. Gunmen, armed with AK-47s, attacked the Government Science secondary school in Kankara late on Friday, according to state police front man Gambo Isah. "Search parties are working with a view to find or rescue the missing students," a police statement said. Roughly half of the school's 800 students were missing, Rooters cited a parent and school employee as saying. MILITARY, POLICE AND AIR FORCE EXCHANGE FIRE President Muhammadu Buhari said in a statement that the Nigerian military had located the attackers and was exchanging fire with them in a forest, aided by the country's air force. Police at the scene on Friday also exchanged fire with the button men, allowing some 200 students to run for safety, Isah said, adding that police would deploy additional forces to assist in search and rescue operations. One officer was shot and maimed during the exchange, police said. Police and the military were still working to determine how many students were kidnapped and missing. The button men are believed to belong to groups of bandidos in the troubled region and are known to carry out kidnappings for ransom. Attacks on locals by Islamist holy warriors have also become common place in northeastern parts of Nigeria. In April 2014, jihadist group Boko Haram  ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...kidnapped 276 girls from their school dormitory in Chibok, Borno State. About a hundred of them are still missing. Related: Katsina: 2020-11-23 Gunmen kill five in mosque attack in Nigeria: Police Katsina: 2020-08-01 Nigeria president says security problems 'very, very disturbing' Katsina: 2020-07-19 Nigerian state offers cows for guns to halt attacks Related: Kankara: 2019-07-09 Gunmen kill six villagers in Nigeria’s northern Katsina state Kankara: 2008-12-06 Sri Lanka says 100 rebel boats, key highway captured Posted by: trailing wife 2020-12-13 |
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