Gunmen attacked a university in northern Nigeria on Thursday evening, killing one student and injuring another, and kidnapping five people, including three students, according to a statement Friday (June 11) from the teachers' union.
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The attack took place between 11:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m. at the Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic University in Zaria, a town located in Kaduna State. "
Two members of the academic staff were kidnapped
" as well as "
three students
", according to this statement signed by the president of the teachers' union, Aliyu Kofa.
The wife and two children of one of the kidnapped personnel were also kidnapped by the kidnappers "
but were released in the morning,
" said this press release. During the attack, "
the kidnappers shot at two students, one of them died this morning while the other is still being treated medically,
" he added. On Friday morning, the rector of the university Mohammed Kabir Abdullahi confirmed to AFP the attack, but he was not able to communicate the number of people abducted.
This attack is the latest in a series of kidnappings of schoolchildren and students in recent months in central and northwestern Nigeria, where for a decade armed gangs have terrorized populations, looting villages, stealing cattle and mass kidnappings for ransom.
In early June, at least 136 children were abducted from a private Muslim school in the neighboring state of Niger (central Nigeria). They have still not been released by their captors, who demand the payment of a ransom. Since December 2020, at least 866 children and adolescents have been abducted in Nigeria in the attack on their establishments. Africa's most populous country faces other huge security challenges, including a jihadist rebellion in the northeast, which has claimed more than 40,000 lives since 2009.