The remaining 130 schoolchildren kidnapped by gunmen from a Catholic school in Nigeria’s north-central Niger State in November have been released, a presidential spokesman mentioned on Sunday, confirming that every one kidnapped pupils at the moment are free.
“Another 130 abducted Niger State pupils released, none left in captivity,” spokesman Sunday Dare mentioned in a publish on X, accompanied by a {photograph} exhibiting the smiling children.
The spokesman didn’t present particulars on the circumstances surrounding their launch.
The students were taken in November when armed bandits stormed St. Mary’s Private Catholic School, abducting a whole of 303 children and 12 academics, based on the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). The victims included each girls and boys, some as younger as 10.
Less than 48 hours after the kidnapping, 50 students managed to escape and return to their households, CAN mentioned on the time. Earlier this month, the Nigerian authorities introduced that safety forces had rescued 100 of the kidnapped victims.
Dare’s publish on Sunday put the final college students being held at 130 – barely fewer than had been thought to stay in captivity. NCS has reached to the workplace of Nigerian President for clarification.
The November abduction was the newest in a wave of assaults by armed teams focusing on susceptible civilian populations, significantly faculties, and finishing up mass kidnappings for ransom. Violence within the nation has repeatedly erupted from communal and ethnic tensions, in addition to from disputes between farmers and herders over restricted entry to land and water assets.