Freed Nigerian schoolboys welcomed after week of captivity
by Carley Petesch And Lekan Oyekanmi, The Associated Press
Posted Dec 18, 2020 4:18 am EDT
Last Updated Dec 18, 2020 at 4:26 am EDT
KATSINA, Nigeria More than 300 schoolboys kidnapped last week in an attack on their school in northwest Nigeria have arrived in the capital of Katsina state in celebration of their release.
The boys were abducted one week ago from the all-boys Government Science Secondary School in Kankara in Katsina state village.
Nigeria’s Boko Haram jihadist rebels claimed responsibility for the abduction, saying they attacked the school because it believes Western education is un-Islamic, factional leader Abubakar Shekau said in a video earlier this week.
More than 300 students abducted by Boko Haram jihadists return home
The boys were abducted one week ago from the all-boys Government Science Secondary School in Kankara in Katsina state village
Released students gather at the Government House with other students from the Government Science Secondary school, in Kankara, in northwestern Katsina State, Nigeria upon their release on December 18, 2020.
PIC: AFP
More than 300 schoolboys kidnapped last week in an attack on their school in northwest Nigeria have arrived in the capital of Katsina state in celebration of their release.
The boys were abducted one week ago from the all-boys Government Science Secondary School in Kankara in Katsina state village.
Freed Nigerian schoolboys welcomed after week of captivity - Medicine Hat NewsMedicine Hat News medicinehatnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from medicinehatnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
BBC
Nigeria-based Islamist militant group Boko Haram has said it was behind last week’s kidnapping of hundreds of schoolboys in the north-western Nigerian state of Katsina.
More than 300 pupils are unaccounted for, but others managed to escape.
The authorities had previously blamed “bandits” for the attack.
Boko Haram has been notorious over the last decade for school kidnappings, including in Chibok in 2014, but these have taken place in the north-east.
In an audio message about the abductions, its leader Abubakar Shekau said “what happened in Katsina was our responsibility” and that his group opposed Western education.
This year hundreds of people in Nigeria’s north-west region have been killed in attacks by what authorities have called criminal gangs, but until now it has been unclear whether they had links with Boko Haram.
BBC News
Published
media captionAbdulhadi Abubaka describes how he managed to the mass kidnapping in Nigeria s Katsina school.
Nigeria-based Islamist militant group Boko Haram has said it was behind last week s kidnapping of hundreds of schoolboys in the north-western Nigerian state of Katsina.
More than 300 pupils are unaccounted for, but others managed to escape.
The authorities had previously blamed bandits for the attack.
Boko Haram has been notorious over the last decade for school kidnappings, including in Chibok in 2014, but these have taken place in the north-east.
In an audio message about the abductions, its leader Abubakar Shekau said what happened in Katsina was our responsibility and that his group opposed Western education.