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  • Nigeria: attack on school, possibly kidnapping of hundreds of pupils

  • Nigeria, Boko Haram attacks a village killing at least 110

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13 December 2020A commando of armed men attacked a school in northwestern Nigeria, in the Katsina region on Friday night.

The police, on Saturday, reported that hundreds of boys were missing and possibly had been kidnapped.



In the aftermath of the school attack, some 345 students remain missing, according to security sources, after gunmen attacked the high school in northwestern Nigeria in what authorities fear may be a new mass kidnapping. .



Kalashnikov gunmen fired near Government Science High School facilities in the northern state of Katsina, causing panic and terror among some 800 students, according to an estimate by several teachers.

So far, just over 400 pupils have been located, according to local authorities.



Anonymous security sources, quoted by the local newspaper TheCable, said 345 students were missing, although some may have hid in wooded areas, in their homes or returned to neighboring territories.



"The students were taken (by force) from the school before the Nigerian army troops arrived and the shooting began. This caused some pupils to flee while the bandits left with others. It was a very disturbing scene." police sources told the ThePunch.  



For his part, the governor of Katsina, Aminu Bello Masari, announced at a press conference the temporary closure of all state high schools, and asked for patience from the parents of the missing.

"We want to assure you that we will do everything we can to save the students," he said.



Fights with the army

According to the governor, the alleged perpetrators of the armed attack have their base in the wooded area of ​​Zango / Paula in Kankara, where a fight is underway with the Nigerian forces by land and air.     



"The military operation has the support of the air force. The president (Muhammadu Buhari, ed) asked security members that the attackers be neutralized and that no students disappear or be injured", the Nigerian presidency confirmed yesterday in a message. sentencing on Twitter.



Predictable attacks

The attack comes eight days after the jihadist group Boko Haram massacred more than 100 farmers in the northeastern state of Borno.

"The terrible attacks on rural communities in northern Nigeria have been repeated for years. The continued failure of the security forces to take the necessary measures to protect the locals from these predictable attacks is absolutely shameful," said the director of Amnesty. International Nigeria, Osai Ojigho.