Dozens of armed men invaded the dormitories of a girls' school in northwest Nigeria on Thursday night. They abducted a large number of them, according to local sources.

"More than 300 girls are still missing," said a teacher at the school in Jangebe, Zamfara State, who wishes to remain anonymous.

"I am on my way to Jangebe," said the father of two of the abducted girls. "I received a call to inform me that bandits had kidnapped students."

Last week, 42 children were abducted in Niger State, in central-western Nigeria, and more than 300 boys were also abducted in early December in Kankara in Katsina State.

Terrorized populations

This new mass kidnapping for ransom takes place in a region where armed groups are terrorising the population, stealing cattle and pillaging villages.

These criminal gangs often hide in camps in the heart of the Rugu forest, which stretches across four states in northern and central Nigeria: Katsina, Zamfara, Kaduna and Niger.

Links with jihadist groups

Their motivations are primarily greedy, but some have developed strong links with jihadist groups in the north-east.

This criminal violence has resulted in more than 8,000 deaths since 2011 and forced more than 200,000 people to flee their homes, according to a report by the International Crisis Group (ICG) published in May 2020.

Tianah.R

Photo Credits:unsplash

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