Nigerian children rescued from the grip of the armed group Boko Haram (Reuters - Archive)
The Nigerian army announced that it was able to rescue dozens of students who were kidnapped by gunmen earlier this March from a school in the north of the country, days before a deadline set by the kidnappers to pay a ransom for their release.
Nigerian army spokesman Edward Buba said that the army rescued 137 hostages in the early hours of Sunday morning in Zamfara state in the north of the country.
He stated that the rescue of the hostage children came after a coordinated search and rescue operation launched by the army in cooperation with local authorities and government agencies throughout the country.
A security source said that the rescue of the students took place in a forest area in neighboring Zamfara state. He explained that the army took the students to the capital of Kaduna state to undergo medical examinations before returning them to their families.
There was conflicting information regarding the number of students who were rescued, as sources indicated that the army rescued 250 students and a number of teachers who had been kidnapped by gunmen, while press sources indicated that the number of kidnapped students was 287 children.
Oba Sani, Governor of Kaduna State, said earlier that the total number of hostages exceeded 200 students.
The students were kidnapped on March 7 while they were in their school in the town of Korega in northwestern Kaduna State. This is the first mass kidnapping in the country since 2021, which witnessed the kidnapping of more than 150 students from a secondary school in the same state.
Source: French + Reuters