September 1 (Reuters) – Gunmen abducted 73 children at a school in Zamfara state in northwestern Nigeria in the latest mass abduction in the region, police said in a statement on Wednesday.
Police said a large number of armed bandits invaded Government Day High School in the village of Kaya, in the rural state of Zamfara, at 11:22 local time (1022 GMT).
“The command … has deployed a search and rescue team that was mandated to work in synergy with the army to ensure the safe rescue of abducted students,” Zamfara police spokesman Mohammed said in the statement Shehu.
Armed gangs seeking rescues have abducted more than 1,100 students in more than a dozen attacks on schools or colleges in northwestern Nigeria since December 2020, adopting a tactic first used by Islamist insurgents in the northeastern part of the West African nation.
The Zamfara government ordered the closure of all public schools to prevent further attacks, Ibrahim Dosara, the state information commissioner, told Reuters by telephone. Police said they had also increased security around Kaya to prevent further attacks on the community.
A school staff member told Reuters by phone that the school had more than 500 children enrolled.
Zamfara is among the four states in northwestern Nigeria that have taken steps to try to curb the security crisis. They have banned the sale of fuel in drums and the transport of firewood by truck in hopes of disrupting gangs traveling by motorbike and camping in the woods.
Editorial reports Maiduguri, Ardo Hazzad in Bauchi, Hamza Ibrahim in Kano, Tife Owolabi in Yenagoa and Camillus Eboh in Abuja; Written by Estelle Shirbon and Libby George; Edited by Andrew Cawthorne and Paul Simao
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