Nigerian authorities confirm kidnapping of 136 children

Nigerian authorities confirmed that 136 children were abducted from a Muslim school in the central Nigerian state of Niger on Sunday by a group of armed men.. “The Niger state government confirms that the number of students kidnapped by the bandits is 136,” the local government said in a message on Twitter..

The security forces “do the best they can to ensure the safe return of the children,” says the government, although they act “prudently to avoid possible collateral damage.”. The authorities of the state of Niger have requested help from the federal government to “better assist them” in confronting these armed groups..

This kidnapping took place a day after the release of 14 students from the University of Greenfield, in Kaduna, a state located in the northwest of the country and a neighbor of the state of Niger, after having been kidnapped since April.

Mass kidnappings at schools in northern Nigeria for lucrative ransoms have increased in recent months, and more than 800 students have been held since December.

On March 12, 39 students from the Igabi Higher School of Forestry Mechanization, in the state of Kaduna, were kidnapped and released between April and May.

On March 2, a total of 279 students who had been abducted on February 26 in a kidnapping attributed by the authorities to “bandits” were released from a public girls' school in the state of Zamfara, also in the northwest of the country.