As America gears up for a winter of vaccines, testing, and rising Covid cases, it’s easy to overlook things going on internationally. Reports are coming out of gunmen kidnapping scores of high school students in Nigeria’s Northwestern Katsina state exchanging fire with military forces trying to rescue them.
According to the country’s president, the gang, armed with AK-47s, stormed the Government Science secondary school in Kankara district on Friday night. Police and locals confirm those reports,
One parent, who is also a school employee told reporters that roughly half of the school’s 800 students were missing.
Condemning the attack in his home state, President Muhammadu Buhari said in a statement that the military had located the kidnappers in a forest and was exchanging fire with them, aided by air support.
Police and the military are still working to determine how many were kidnapped and missing. On Friday, Police at the scene exchanged fire with the attackers, allowing some students to run for safety, police spokesman Gambo Isah said in a statement
Police have announced that they would deploy additional forces to support the search and rescue. One officer was shot and wounded in the exchange of fire with the gang, according to police reports.
We will definitely keep you all updated on this as more info is made available. In the meantime, pray for the students and their families and that everyone is returned home safely.
