In an attempt to rescue the kidnapper, all the boys’ government science high school in Kankara were ambushed late Friday, and a number of motorcyclists attacked, local police said.
The kidnappers are being solicited by a teacher at the school, the Director General of the Media for the Governor of the Nigerian Katsina State, Abdu Lafaran, said on Monday.
“The kidnappers of the Kangaroo students contacted a teacher and asked him to tell the government to stop the helicopter surveillance. They did not ask for ransom money,” LaBaren said.
At least 446 students have been handed over to their parents, but they said they have not been able to reach a large number of families to ensure the safety of the students as the telephone connection is poor.
The United Nations on Sunday strongly condemned the abductions and called for the “immediate and unconditional release of the children.”
There are differing estimates of the number of children abducted from school late Friday. Government officials said the numbers were difficult to pinpoint because some children ran away during the attack, while others escaped and returned to villages and schools over the weekend.
“Some of the students who returned from the military revealed that ten of their colleagues had been taken away by robbers, but this still needs to be verified,” he wrote, adding that there may still be unaccounted for others.
“Forests and neighboring villages are being searched and parents are being contacted for information about their children.”
A school official told CNN that at least three of his students escaped from the kidnappers and returned to school on Sunday. He said they had not eaten and that their legs had been shattered and swollen from several hours of trekking. CNN did not name the school official to protect its safety.
“They commanded the crowd as if they were herding sheep,” Hassan Abdul-Bashir, a 13-year-old student at the school, told CNN on Saturday. He said gunmen ask students for money, rob lockers and take away some of their belongings. “They shot the guard guarding our school. I saw them driving several students.”
Musa Adamu, a senior secondary student at the school, said he and his roommates jumped out the windows when they heard gunshots on Friday. “We went to the fence, climbed on it and jumped down,” the 18-year-old told CNN. “The sound of gunshots came louder. We ran in different directions … into the woods. Most of us had no shoes. We ran until the sound of gunfire fainted until we got tired.”
Nigerian officials said the motive for the attack was unclear, but the area has seen abductions in the past for rescue attacks.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Nigerian authorities to “bring to justice those responsible for this act.”
“The Secretary-General reaffirms the unity and support of the United Nations in the fight against terrorism, violent extremism and organized crime,” his spokesman Stephen Dujarric said in a statement on Sunday.