Gunmen Abduct Seven Students in Northwest Nigeria; One escapes

Abuja: Armed gunmen raided a residential building outside a school campus in the Kaura Namoda area of conflict-ridden Zamfara State in northwest Nigeria in the early hours of Wednesday, abducting seven students. Police spokesperson Yazid Abubakar confirmed the attack in a statement, adding that one student managed to escape and is currently under police protection. The whereabouts of the remaining six are unknown, and efforts to rescue them are ongoing.

Zamfara is a hotbed of armed gangs that carry out kidnappings for ransom. Student abductions have risen sharply across Nigeria in recent years. The most notorious incident was the mass abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls from Chibok in Borno State in 2014. Since then, according to local news agency Premium Times, at least 1,900 students have been abducted from at least 20 schools across the country.