Gunmen abduct over 200 students in Niger State

Barely 24 hours after students of Greenfield students, Kaduna State were released by their abductors after their parents allegedly paid N180 million to the kidnappers, over 200 students of an Islamiyya school located at Tegina in Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State have been abducted.

According to our Correspondent, one person was shot dead while another lays critically injured after gunmen carried out the kidnap operation at about 4:30pm on Sunday.

A resident of the area Zayyad Mohammed confirmed the incident.

According to him, the Salihu Tanko Islamiyya school where the incident took place, was built by a retired Immigration Officer.

Details of the attack are still sketchy, but sources said the school is not the usual Sangaya boarding Islamic school, but a conventional one where parents send their children on a daily basis for the purpose of acquiring Islamic education. In the meantime, the Police Command in Niger, on Sunday confirmed the abduction of school children and some residents of Tegina in Rafi Local Government Area of the state.

The Commissioner of Police in the state,  Mr Adamu Usman told our Correspondent in Minna that the children were abducted from Salihu Tanko Islamiya School.

He also confirmed that the abductors killed one person in the process.

Usman explained that the incident occurred at about 3p.m. when a large number of bandits on motorcycles attacked the town.

He said that the command had deployed a tactical squad supported by operatives of Operation Puff Adder 2, to track the abductors and rescue the victims.

The police commissioner urged members of the general public to support security agencies with reliable information to ensure the safe rescue of the children.