Gunmen kidnapped at least 15 students from Tsangaya students at Gidan Bakuso in Gada local government area of Sokoto State in a dawn raid on Saturday, just days after some 300 students were abducted by a gang in Kaduna State.
The gunmen forced their way into the school premises in the Sokoto village of Gidan Bakuso and started firing shots sporadically, waking and causing panic among the students, who ran for cover, said school owner Liman Abubakar Bakuso.
“They succeeded in abducting 15 of my students, the oldest being 20 and 15, but all the others are below 13,” said Bakuso by phone, adding that a woman had also been kidnapped.
“We are in a state of panic and have been praying hard for their safe release,” he told Reuters.
Police did not respond to requests for comment.
In Kaduna, the state governor told the BBC at least 28 of the schoolchildren kidnapped earlier this week had managed to escape their captors.
According to Abubakar, the bandits invaded the town around 1am, shot one person and abducted a woman.
“As they were leaving the town, they sighted our students rushing into their rooms and they kidnapped many of them. We have so far counted 15 who are missing and we are still searching for more,” he said
Abubakar added that this was not the first time the village was attacked by bandits.
The member, representing Gada-East Constituency at the state House of Assembly, Kabiru Dauda while confirming the attack, said he received a call from the village around 2am that it was invaded by bandits.
Our reporter also gathered that bandits attacked and killed three persons at Turba village in Isa Local Government Area of the state, including the village head.
A member representing, Isa Constituency, Habibu Modachi who confirmed the incident, believed it was a reprisal after security operatives raided bandits’ hideouts two days ago.
The spokesman of the Sokoto State Police Command, ASP Ahmad Rufa’i, said he was not aware of the development but he would contact the Divisional Police Officer of the local government areas and get back to our reporter.
