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Hundreds of parents whose children were kidnapped last week Catholic School students in north-central Niger gathered at a school site on Friday to plead with the government to rescue their children.
On the morning of 21 November, gunmen attacked the school and took out more than 300 students and staff, leaving more than 250 children as hostages. According to school officials, 50 children managed to escape.
The parents say they are waiting for news of the release.
“Some of the children they took away are still underage,” Abuchi Nwolisa, a school parent, told The Associated Press. “They took some of them from their sleeping beds.”
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu declared a state of emergency earlier this week, allowing the country’s police force to deal with the increasing attacks.
Nigeria has been rocked by two separate mass kidnappings of schoolchildren in the past two weeks. Gunmen also attacked a school in Kebbi and abducted 30 students before the government secured their release.
Mass kidnappings of schoolchildren have become common in the West African The nation faces serious threats from multiple armed groups, including those that specialize in kidnapping for ransom.
Since 2014, there have been at least a dozen mass abductions of school students, and at least 1,799 students have been abducted since then, according to an AP tally. Some of them are never saved.
“Our parents have two, three, five children from kidnappers and that’s why we are here to tell the world that this is true,” Minna Catholic Mission spokesman Stephen Okafor told the AP.
Tension increased in Nigeria after recent threat from US President donald trump Military intervention citing widespread oppression Christians In the country. The Nigerian government rejected the claims, saying that the security situation is a complex threat that affects the entire country, not just one religion.
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AP’s Africa coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/africa