At least 39 children were kidnapped by armed men from a farm in Nigeria

At least 39 children were abducted by armed men while working on a farm in Katsina state in northern Nigeriaconfirmed this Thursday the Police to EFE.

State police spokesman Gambo Isahstated that a large number of armed individuals raided a farm in the Faskari area last Sunday.

“The gunmen, who were on motorcycles, they attacked on Sunday in Faskari, they went to a farm and took 39 children who worked there”, Isah explained to EFE by phone.

”Based on the information we gathered, they surrounded the farm, they shot sporadically and then they took the children,” said the police spokesman.

Police officers have been mobilized and are on the trail of the attackers with a view to rescuing the children and arresting the kidnappers, Isah said, specifying that the gunmen are “bandits” who steal cattle and kidnap people for ransom.

Aminu Barau, Faskari’s neighbor, told EFE that the gunmen were about eighty and that they fired for almost two hours before storming the farm.

”They were shooting and shooting, there was panic everywhere. Then they went to the farm in Mairuwa and took about forty childrenBarau added.

The central and northwestern states of Nigeria suffer from relentless attacks by bandits and mass kidnappings for lucrative ransoms.

The violence continues despite repeated promises by the Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buharito put an end to the problem and the deployment of additional security forces in the area.

To this insecurity in the northwest of Nigeria the one registered since 2009 in the northeast by the jihadist group is added Boko Haram and, since 2016, due to its split, the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP).

Both groups have killed more than 35,000 people and caused some 2.7 million internal displacements, mostly in Nigeria, but also in neighboring countries such as Cameroon, Chad and Niger, according to government and UN data.

Source: Elcomercio

Ronald Payne

I, Ronald Payne, am a journalist and author who dedicated his life to telling the stories that need to be said. I have over 7 years of experience as a reporter and editor, covering everything from politics to business to crime.