2 Nigerian girls rescued among 25 kidnapped students

Nov. 18 (UPI) — Two girls were rescued Tuesday after at least 25 schoolchildren and a teacher were kidnapped from a school in northwestern Nigeria, local officials said.

Nigerian authorities said the two young girls ran from their armed captors after being led into a bushy area. The girls escaped across farmland in the Nigerian state of Kebbi, Hussaini Aliyu, a member of the local Danko Wasagu council, told the BBC.

He added the pair were “back and are safe.” One victim, however, required medical treatment for a leg injury.

The group were taken during the Monday morning hours from the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga.

A teacher was killed attempting to protect the group of girls. A security guard later died from gun wounds in hospital.

The Nigerian government said it was “deeply concerned” by Monday’s school hostage taking.

A government spokesperson said President Bola Tinubu remained “unwavering in his commitment to protect every Nigerian, especially schoolchildren.”

On Monday, the country’s information minister, Mohammed Idris Malagi, said authorities “share in the pain” with families and were acting quickly to rescue the rest of the missing students.

Nigerian police described the alleged abductors as a “gang of armed bandits.”

A team of police, volunteers and military personnel joined to comb forested areas hoping to rescue other captives.

“You must continue day and night fighting. We must find these children,” Maj. Gen. Waidi Shaibu, Nigeria’s army chief of staff, instructed troops in the region.

According to Human Rights Watch, mass kidnappings have been a rising problem across northern regions of the West African nation since the self-proclaimed jihadist militant group Boko Haram abducted 276 school girls in 2014.

Armed groups have carried out abductions for random pay or to leverage government deals.

In 2020, more than 300 schoolboys were abducted at gunpoint from a school in the same region. Months later, some 42 staffers and students were taken.

But last year the Nigerian army rescued more than 130 kidnapped staff and students from seizure in northern Kaduna.