A state government official said that armed people tried to kidnap students again in Kaduna State, Nigeria in the early hours of Sunday, while 39 students are still missing after the last attack.
Attacks by armed gangs have intensified in recent years in northwestern Nigeria. The kidnapping of four students since December has sparked outrage across the country.
About 39 students, including a pregnant woman, are still missing from Thursday’s abduction at the Federal College of Forest Mechanisms in northwestern Nigeria.
Police, army and other security forces attacked another school and a local government office near Kaduna Airport, said Samuel Aruwan, Kaduna State Commissioner for Home Security and Home Affairs.
March 12: Thirty students abducted at school in Nigeria
“The Kaduna government has expanded its unequal solidarity to the army, police, state service department and other security agencies, whose rapid intervention has prevented the bandits from kidnapping more people,” Aruvan said.
All 307 students were counted at the Government Secondary School of Science in Iqra, Aruvan said, adding that the army and air force prevented the attack in an area where civil servants live in the village of Ifira, close to the local government area of Igabi.
Aruvan did not comment on Saturday’s video of missing students at the Federal College of Forest Mechanisms, which showed them beating and molesting.
In that video, a college student stated that his prisoners needed a ransom of 500 million naira (or $ 1.3 million).
“As a government, our focus is on recovering missing students and preventing further episodes of kidnapping in schools,” Aruvan said.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, speaking in a video message posted on Twitter on Sunday, ordered the states to resolve security issues at all levels and said that the military service chief would take responsibility for the wider security issues quickly.
“We will be very harsh on criminals,” he said, “confidence should be restored in the next six weeks.”
