Boko Haram claims kidnapping of hundreds of students in Nigeria

The "Boko Haram" group claimed responsibility for the kidnapping in Katsina, which targeted hundreds of students, northwest Nigeria.

15 December, 2020 09:09

NEWS DESK

The leader of the group, Abu Bakr Al-Shakawi, declared, during an audio recording the group’s responsibility for the kidnapping of hundreds of students on Tuesday morning, and said: “I, Abu Bakr Al-Shakawi, and our brothers are behind the kidnapping in Katsina.”

At least 333 students are still missing since more than 100 gunmen on motorcycles attacked the high school in the town of Kankara in Katsina state, northwestern Nigeria, on Friday night.

Some of the boys Reuters spoke to said that they had fled from a forest to which the gunmen took them, and last Sunday, a group of students' parents gathered to demand the authorities to rescue hundreds of kidnapped boys.

Of note, "Boko Haram" had kidnapped 276 students from a high school in Chibok in 2014, which sparked a global wave of condemnation.

The security situation in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, is precarious. Late last month, militants killed dozens of farmers in the northeastern state of Borno and beheaded some of them.

J.O