The Nigerian jihadist group Boko Haram released a video Thursday, December 17 in which we can see dozens of young boys, one of whom explains that they are the hundreds of high school students from Kankara, in northwestern Nigeria, kidnapped from their high school Friday.
His face covered in dust and scratched, the young boy explains that he is one of 520 students kidnapped by "the Shekau gang", named after the historic leader of Boko Haram.
Hundreds of minors were kidnapped on Friday evening by armed men, nicknamed "bandits" in this region of Nigeria and operating for the jihadist group Boko Haram, whose area of influence is hundreds of kilometers further east. .
Their exact number remained unclear, the authorities announcing earlier 333 students missing, then 400 Thursday morning.
In this video, Boko Haram affirms, through the voice of this young boy, that they are 520 in their hands, and that some of them have been killed.
The children appear exhausted, crammed into a forest, in very degraded sanitary conditions.
The video, broadcast through the group's traditional channels, is recorded partly in English, then in the Hausa language, spoken in particular in northern Nigeria.
A man posing as Abubakar Shekau then broadcasts a voicemail message in which he states, "These are my men and these are your children."
Gangs acting on behalf of Boko Haram
According to AFP information, this mass kidnapping was coordinated by gang leader Awwalun Daudawa in collaboration with two other renowned "bandits", Idi Minoriti and Dankarami, armed groups which terrorize populations in northwestern Nigeria. and carry out kidnappings for ransom and cattle rustling.
According to several testimonies from young boys who managed to escape, the hostages were divided into several groups on the evening of their kidnapping.
According to a security source familiar with the matter, the high school students who appear in this video are those detained by Awwalun Daudawa, who responds directly to Boko Haram's orders, and the others could be released following negotiations between the kidnappers and the local government. .
This attack, which rekindles the specter of the kidnapping of more than 200 young girls in Chibok in 2014 is a terrible snub for Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, from Katsina state where he celebrated his 78th birthday on Thursday.
The head of state who came to power in 2015 made the fight against Boko Haram his priority.
Boko Haram and its dissident branch, the Islamic State in West Africa (Iswap) group, active in northeastern Nigeria, have killed more than 36,000 in ten years of conflict and two million people still cannot not return to their homes.
With AFP
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