Photo: ReutersAbout 150 students are missing after armed men raided a boarding school in Nigeria's Kaduna state, a parent and an administrator said, and police confirmed they were in hot pursuit alongside military personnel. The attack on the Bethel Baptist High School is the 10th mass school kidnapping since December last year in northwest Nigeria, which authorities have attributed to armed bandits seeking ransom payments. Reverend John Hayab, a founder of the school, told Reuters about 25 students had managed to escape while the school's other students remained missing. Armed men, known locally as bandits, have made an industry of kidnapping students for ransom in northwest Nigeria, with Kaduna state particularly hard hit. They have taken nearly 1000 people from schools since December last year, more than 150 of whom remain missing.

Source: Otago Daily Times July 05, 2021 17:26 UTC