50 children kidnapped from Nigerian school have escaped: Christian group
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Gunmen on Nov 21 raided St Mary’s co-education school in Niger state, taking 303 children and 12 teachers.
PHOTO: AFP
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LAGOS – Fifty of the more than 300 children snatched by gunmen
“We have received some good news as 50 pupils escaped and have reunited with their parents,” said the Christian Association of Nigeria in a statement, adding they escaped between Nov 21 and Nov 22.
Gunmen on Nov 21 raided St Mary’s co-education school in Niger state, taking 303 children and 12 teachers in one of the largest mass kidnappings in Nigeria.
The abduction came after gunmen had on Nov 17 stormed a secondary school in neighbouring Kebbi state, abducting 25 girls, as security fears mount in Africa’s most populous nation, sparking a wave of school closures across other parts of the country.
The number of boys and girls – aged between eight and 18 – kidnapped from St Mary’s is almost half of the school’s student population of 629.
The Nigerian government has yet to comment on the number of students and teachers abducted.
“As much as we receive the return of these 50 children that escaped with some sigh of relief, I urge you all to continue in your prayers for the rescue and safe return of the remaining victims,” the CAN chairman in Niger State, Reverend Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, said in the statement. AFP
