More than 300 students are still unaccountable after an attack on a Nigerian school over the weekend.
What We Know:
- A large number of attackers on motorbikes ambushed an all-boys school over the weekend. Shooters attacked the Government Science Secondary School late Friday. According to CNN, the attack is thought to be a possible kidnapping for ransom attempt.
- The kidnappers contacted teacher Abdu Labaran with demands. “The abductors of the Kankara students have contacted a teacher and asked him to tell the government to stop the helicopter surveillance. They have not asked for ransom,” said Labaran.
- The military has been deployed to search for the boys. Varying estimates have been made of the total of children kidnapped. So far, 446 students have been handed to parents, but due to poor phone service have not been confirmed safe.
- Musa Adamu, a senior at the secondary school, escaped the attack. “The gun shots sound got louder, we ran in different directions … into the forest. Most of us had no shoes on, and we kept running until we got tired and the sound of the gunshots fainted,” he said.
- A school official told CNN that three of his students were able to escape their captors. They returned to school on Sunday, they had not eaten, and their legs were bruised and swollen from hours of trekking.
- Thirteen-year-old student Hassan Abdul-Bashir said the gunmen asked for money and ransacked lockers. “They shot the policeman guarding our school. I saw them driving many students.”
The motive for the attack is unclear, and the search for the boys continues.
