At least 50 of the more than 300 students abducted by gunmen
from a Catholic school in Nigeria have escaped their captors, a
Christian group tracking the incident says.
The gunmen raided Saint Mary’s Catholic School in north-central
Nigeria’s Niger State on Friday, taking 303 children and 12
teachers in one of the country’s largest mass kidnappings.
In a statement on Sunday, the Christian Association of Nigeria
(CAN) said the 50 pupils were safe and had been reunited with their
families after they escaped between Friday and Saturday.
“As much as we receive the return of these 50 children that
escaped with some sigh of relief, I urge you all to continue in
your prayers for the rescue and safe return of the remaining
victims,” CAN’s chairman in Niger State, Reverend Bulus Dauwa
Yohanna, said in the statement.
The Catholic school abduction came just four days after armed
men stormed a secondary school in northwestern Nigeria, kidnapping
25 schoolgirls and killing the school’s vice-principal.
Monday’s attack took place in similar circumstances in
neighbouring Kebbi State’s Maga town, some 170km (106 miles) away.
At least one girl has since escaped and returned safely, but 24
others are still missing.
The identity of the attackers remains unclear in both cases, and
no group has claimed responsibility so far.
Regional authorities and security agencies have launched
search-and-rescue operations in surrounding forests and along
escape routes, with police, military and even local hunters
deployed to help.