Fifty students among the more than 300 students kidnapped on Friday from a Catholic school in Nigeria managed to escape their captors, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) announced on Sunday, November 23, in a press release. These students “found his parents”the same source said, adding that they fled between Friday and Saturday.
Gunmen attacked Saint Mary’s mixed Catholic school on Friday morning, located in Niger State, in western Nigeria, and kidnapped 303 children and 12 teachers, according to CAN (initial reports indicate 227 people are missing). This is one of the largest mass kidnappings ever carried out in Nigeria. The Nigerian government has not commented on the number of students and teachers kidnapped.
The kidnapping came after another group of gunmen stormed a high school in neighboring Kebbi state on Monday and abducted 25 young girls. The incident sparked security concerns in Africa’s most populous country and caused many schools to close as a precaution.
The boys and girls abducted from Saint Mary’s School, aged 8 to 18, represent nearly half of the 629 students at the school.
“While the return of these 50 escaped children provides some relief for us, I urge you all to continue praying for the rescue and safe return of the remaining victims.”Pastor Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, chairman of Niger State CAN and owner of the school, said in a statement.
Nigeria is still characterized by other mass kidnappings, namely the kidnapping of nearly 300 young girls carried out by Boko Haram jihadists in Chibok, in Borno State (Northeast), more than ten years ago. Some of them are still missing.
