Dozens of schoolchildren abducted in Nigeria

More than 40 pupils have been kidnapped after militants, suspected to be members of the jihadist group Boko Haram, attacked a school in Borno State in northeastern Nigeria, according to a senior lawmaker and local residents.

The gunmen reportedly stormed the Primary and Junior Government Day Secondary School (GDSS) in Mussa-Biri community, located in Askira-Uba Local Government Area, last Friday.

In a statement cited by local media, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, who represents Borno South, said 32 students were seized from classrooms and another ten from nearby homes.

The Network of Civil Society Organizations – Borno State said on Sunday that 48 students were abducted in the “heinous attack” that has left “the entire community in profound shock and psychological trauma.”

The organization said the insurgents breached the school’s perimeter when classes were in session, causing pandemonium that forced “dozens of other students to flee into the surrounding bushes.”

The attack occurred near Sambisa Forest, a known base for militants. No group has claimed responsibility, but Boko Haram and its splinter group, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), have previously targeted schools in the northeast. The region has been at the centre of a longstanding Islamist insurgency, with mass abductions, including the 2014 kidnapping of more than 270 Chibok schoolgirls.

On Saturday, the authorities in Abuja and Washington announced that a joint military operation in the Lake Chad Basin killed senior Islamic State commander Abu Bilal al Minuki, described by US President Donald Trump as the group’s global second in command.

The Nigerian police and military have not issued any public statement confirming the Mussa village incident. The raid comes amid a wave of violent attacks across Africa’s most populous nation, despite increased security measures, including a state of emergency declared by the government.

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In a separate incident, gunmen attacked two primary schools in the Oriire area of Oyo State in the early hours of Friday, killing a staff member and abducting an unspecified number of victims. On Saturday, Inspector-General of Police Olatunji Rilwan Disu condemned the assault and announced that security forces have intensified rescue operations and deployed additional tactical units to the area.

A week earlier, 17 police officers were killed when terrorists launched an assault on the Nigerian Army Special Forces School in Buni Yadi, Yobe State. Authorities described the May 8 raid as “a coordinated attack on the facility from multiple directions.”

Last Thursday, the Nigerian Police Force announced it had conducted internal purges, dismissing officers involved in kidnapping, extortion, and armed robbery.

© RT / RT