The Boko Haram group has claimed responsibility for the abduction of hundreds of school students in northwest Nigeria, the AFP news agency reported.
More than 300 students are missing after gunmen on motorcycles stormed the Government Science School in Kankara late on Friday and engaged security forces in a fierce gun battle, forcing hundreds of students to flee and hide in surrounding bushes and forest.
“I am Abubakar Shekau and our brothers are behind the kidnapping in Katsina,” said the leader of the group behind the 2014 abduction of hundreds of schoolgirls in Chibok, in a voice message on Tuesday.
This is even as the Katsina state governor, Aminu Masari, disclosed that 17 of the 333 students confirmed missing had returned and that the state government is in talks with the kidnappers.
He however, did not give details of the group responsible for the abduction of the school boys.
Further, the Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, was quoted to have said in an alleged audio message that contrary to claims made in some quarters, it is yet to make any demands.
He also explained why his group abducted the students saying, “What happened in Katsina was done to promote Islam and discourage un-Islamic practices as Western education is not the type of education permitted by Allah and his Holy Prophet.
“They are also not teaching what Allah and his Holy Prophet commanded. They are rather destroying Islam. It may be subtle, but Allah the Lord of the skies and earth knows whatever is hidden. May Allah promote Islam. May we die as Muslims.”
A joint rescue operation was launched Saturday by Nigeria’s police, air force and army, according to the government.
On Sunday, parents and family members gathered at the school, issuing a plea to authorities to bring the missing boys to safety.
“If it’s not government that will help us, we have no power to rescue our children,” Murja Mohammed, whose son was taken, told the Reuters news agency.
School attack
The attack was initially blamed on armed groups locally known as “bandits”, who are active in the unstable region where kidnappings for ransom are common.
The army said Monday it had located the hideout of the men, and that a military operation was under way.
More than 100 gunmen on motorcycles stormed the rural school north of Kankara town, forcing students to flee and hide in the surrounding bush.
A number of boys were able to escape, but many were captured, split into groups and taken away, residents told AFP.
The kidnappings occurred in the home state of President Muhammadu Buhari, who condemned the attack and ordered security stepped up in schools, with those in Katsina state closed.
This is the first of such massive kidnappings in the northwest of Nigeria. Tuesday’s claim of responsibility also marks a major turning point in the advance of armed groups in northwest Nigeria.
Boko Haram, and a splinter group the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), are waging an insurgency in Nigeria northeast and are thought to have only a minor presence in the northwest.
But concerns have grown of armed group inroads into the region, especially after fighters claiming to be in the northwest released a 2020 propaganda video pledging allegiance to Boko Haram’s leader.
The claim by Boko Haram has therefore confirmed fears of the group’s expansion of its operations to the North West region of the country.
The northwest region had been overrun by armed bandits who engaged mostly in attacks on farming communities and cattle rustling. The motorcycle-riding criminal gangs operating in the region also kidnapped individuals for ransom but nothing close to last week’s abduction.
Buhari has made the fight against the group a priority, but the security situation in northern Nigeria has deteriorated since his 2015 election.
#BringBackOurBoys has been trending on social media since the weekend – a reference to a similar hashtag used after the girls’ 2014 abduction.
-Aljazeera and News Agencies
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