According to information circulating at this time, namely as reported by the AFP news agency, Monday (31/5/2021), the Nigerian state government in central Nigeria said on Twitter that about 200 children were in school at the time of the attack which occurred on Sunday (30/5) local time. The kidnapping came a day after 14 students from a university in northwest Nigeria were released after 40 days of being held hostage.
Wasiu Abiodun, a spokesman for the Nigerian state police, said the attackers arrived on motorbikes in the town of Tegina and started shooting indiscriminately, killing one citizen and injuring several others. They then kidnapped children from the Salihu Tanko Islamic school.
One of the school officials, who asked not to be identified, said the attackers initially kidnapped more than 100 children "but then sent back children they deemed too small, namely those between the ages of four and 12".
The Niger state government, in a series of tweets, said the attackers had released 11 students who were "too small and could not walk" very far.
Armed groups regularly terrorize populations in northwest and central Nigeria by pillaging villages, stealing livestock and taking people hostage. Such kidnappings have become a frequent way for criminals to collect ransoms.
Since December 2020, 730 children and students have been kidnapped, prior to the attack on Sunday (30/5).
On April 20, gunmen known locally as "bandits" stormed Greenfield University in northwest Nigeria and kidnapped about 20 students, killing a member of the school staff in the act.
Five students were executed a few days later in order to force the family and government to pay a ransom. Fourteen students were released on Saturday (29/5).
The local press said the students' families had paid a ransom of 180 million naira (US $ 440,000) for their release.
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