Gunmen have kidnapped primary school pupils and teachers in the northwest Nigerian state of Kaduna.
In a statement by the state’s security commissioner on Monday, Samuel Aruwan said the state government received reports of pupils and teachers taken in Birnin Gwari.“The Kaduna state government is currently obtaining details on the actual number of pupils and teachers reported to have been kidnapped and will issue a comprehensive statement as soon as possible,” Aruwan said.
Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris, reporting from the capital Abuja, said an aid worker and a resident of the area confirmed the abductions, but it was unclear how many people were taken.
“One six-year-old who was released by the kidnappers was found dazed and confused. We are told the child saw something that no six-year-old should see,” said Idris. “The number of abductions in the north is just mind-boggling. In Kaduna state, hundreds have been taken and 180 were rescued in the last week.”
‘State of panic’
Sarkin Mota, a resident, told the Reuters news agency his son was among those taken, including three of his teachers.
“[They] were kidnapped early this morning when the teachers and pupils were coming to school,” Mota said. “We are in a state of panic,” he said, referring to other parents when they received the news.
Armed men attempted to kidnap more students in Kaduna state overnight on Sunday, as 39 others from an earlier attack remain missing.
The latest kidnapping is the fifth mass school abduction since December in a country where violence is on the rise.
The trend of abduction from boarding schools was started by the armed group, Boko Haram, which seized 270 girls from a school in Chibok in the northeast in 2014. About 100 of them have never been found. Armed criminal gangs seeking ransom have since carried out copycat attacks.
Attempts by the military and police to tackle the gangs have had little success, while many worry state authorities are making the situation worse by letting kidnappers go unpunished, paying them off or providing incentives.
The unrest has become a political problem for President Muhammadu Buhari, a retired general and former military ruler who has faced mounting criticism over the rise in violent crime and replaced his longstanding military chiefs earlier this year.