KURIGA, Nigeria (AP) — Rashidat Hamza is in despair.All but one of her six children are in it. Nearly 300 students were abducted. From a school in northwest Nigeria, an area infested with Islamic extremists and armed groups.
More than two days have passed since her children, aged between seven and 18, were abducted by gunmen while attending school in Kuriga, a remote town in Kaduna state. On Saturday, she was still in shock.
Authorities said at least 100 children under the age of 12 were among the abduction victims in the state, known for its dangerous roads where violent killings, illegal acts and snatchings are common.
“We don't know what to do, but we believe in God,” Hamza told The Associated Press during a visit to the town.
This is the third mass kidnapping in Kuriga. in northern Nigeria since last week.;Group of gunmen kidnapped 15 children They were kidnapped from another school in the northwestern state of Sokoto in the early hours of Saturday, and a few days earlier, 200 people, mostly women and children, who had been displaced by conflict in the northeastern state of Borno were abducted.
The kidnapping is a stark reminder of the security crisis plaguing Africa's most populous country.
No group claimed responsibility for the recent abductions. However, insurgent Islamic extremists in the northeast are suspected to have carried out the kidnapping in Borno. Local residents blame the school kidnappings on nomads who are at odds with settled communities.
This is not the first time a student kidnapping incident in Nigeria has shocked the world. In 2014, there was an abduction incident by Islamic extremists. Over 200 female students From Chibok, Borno, sparked the global #BringBackOurGirls social media campaign. 10 years later, At least 1,400 Nigerian students Other people have been abducted from schools under similar circumstances. Some remain in captivity, including nearly 100 Chibok girls.
Recalling Thursday's kidnapping, teacher Noura Ahmad told The Associated Press that students at a public elementary and middle school had just begun to settle into their classrooms when armed men “arrived in groups of dozens, rode bicycles, and scattered. “I fired at the target,” he said.
One of the few educational facilities in the area, the LEA Primary and Secondary School is located on the entrance road to the town, tucked away in the middle of forest and savannah. Even with its rotting roof and broken walls, the building gave parents hope for a better future for their children.
“They surrounded the school and blocked all the passageways and roads” to prevent help from arriving before abducting the children within five minutes, Ahmad said.
Abdullahi Usman, 14, defied the sound of gunfire and escaped from his captors.
Children play at LEA Primary and Secondary School, Kriga, where students were kidnapped in Kriga, Kaduna State, Nigeria, Saturday, March 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Sunday Aramba)
“Those who refused to move quickly were threatened with being forced to ride motorcycles or with shots fired into the air,” Abdullahi said. “The bandits were shouting 'Go! Go! Go!'” he said.
Nigerian police and soldiers headed into the forest on Friday to search for missing children, but observers said the search of the vast forests in northwestern Nigeria could take weeks.
“My head is confused ever since this happened,” said Shehu Lawal, father of a 13-year-old boy who was one of the kidnappers.
“My child didn't even eat breakfast before leaving. His mother fainted (on hearing the news),” he said.
A patrol of Nigerian soldiers stationed at LEA Primary and Secondary School, Kriga, where students were kidnapped in Kriga, Kaduna State, Nigeria, Saturday, March 9, 2024 (AP Photo/Sunday Aramba)
Some villagers, like Lawan Yaro, whose five grandchildren are among the abductees, say hope is already fading.
People are used to insecurity in the area, he said, but “we've never been in a situation like this.”
“We cry to the government and God for help, but it is the armed groups who decide to take our children back,” Yaro said. “God help us.”
But schools aren't the only target.
More than 3,500 people were kidnapped across Nigeria last year, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.Some were kidnapped from their homes. capital of abuja. President Bola Tinubu took office last year on a successful election campaign promising to strengthen security and stop kidnappings.
Experts say it is easy to smuggle weapons used in kidnappings across Nigeria's poorly guarded border. For example, more than half of the country's 1,500-kilometer (932-mile) border with Niger extends to the northwest. Most of the region is covered by forest savanna, but there are also vast tracts of unmanaged forest where organized gangs hide and keep kidnap victims.
Children play at LEA Primary and Secondary School, Kriga, where students were kidnapped in Kriga, Kaduna State, Nigeria, Saturday, March 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Sunday Aramba)
In 2022, lawmakers passed a bill making ransom payments punishable, but Nigerian kidnappers are known for their brutality, and many families have been forced to succumb to their demands.
Nigeria's military continues to conduct air raids and special military operations in the region and respond to crises across the country, but is exhausted by 14 years of Islamist insurgency in the northeast. Armed organizations continue to proliferate in areas with many poor people and often collaborate with extremists, and are aiming to expand their activities.
The military has previously said kidnapped victims are sometimes used as “human shields” to prevent airstrikes on forests where kidnappers are hiding.
James Barnett, a West Africa researcher at the US-based Hudson Institute, said gangs were “adapting their strategies and further entrenching themselves in the northwest through extortion.”
“Their mindset is that they should be free to do what they want in the North West and that if the state challenges them directly or indirectly, they must show their strength in response. That's the thing,” Barnett said.
More than a dozen checkpoints and military trucks now dot the dangerous 55-mile (89-kilometer) stretch of road that stretches from the town of Kuriga to the city of Kaduna. However, the soldiers are likely to be quickly redeployed elsewhere depending on security needs.
The people of Kuliga can only hope that their children return home safely and that the security they currently feel due to the presence of military personnel continues.
Hamza, a mother whose five children were abducted, hopes the government will arrest the kidnappers and return her students. “The armed groups will not give us peace,” she said.
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Associated Press writer Sunday Aramba in Kuriga, Kaduna State contributed to this report.
