Gunmen attacked a secondary school in Katsina state, northern Nigeria, police said, with residents reporting the kidnapping of students.
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Friday evening, December 11, "
the bandits arrived on motorcycles shooting intermittently and tried to enter the
government
school
" in Kankara, the state police spokesperson told AFP. Isa Gambo.
The police pushed them back with the help of the army after a shooting of an hour and a half, added the spokesman without mentioning injuries.
"
We are still in the process of making the call to establish whether there are any students missing
," he added, adding that some 200 of them, who had fled, had returned on Saturday morning, December 12. .
Residents reported kidnappings of students, numbering in the tens according to local media.
“
The kidnappers clashed with security personnel.
Meanwhile, another group entered the school and kidnapped several students,
”Nura Abdullahi told AFP, saying it was premature to assess the number.
For Ibrahim Mamman, another resident, “
most of the students fled but some were captured and kidnapped by the bandits
”.
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Armed gangs, sometimes several hundred strong, have been sowing terror for several years in rural areas of central and northern Nigeria, practicing on a large scale cattle rustling and kidnapping for ransom.
In August, armed men abducted a teacher and several of her students in the middle of the classroom in neighboring Kaduna state.
The hostages were subsequently released but the possible payment of a ransom was not disclosed.