Over 300 Girls Abducted by Gunmen In Zamfara School
Gunmen
suspected to be bandits on Friday morning abducted over 300 schoolgirls at
Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe in the Talata-Mafara Local
Government Area of Zamfara State.
According to
an eyewitness who also happens to be a staff of the school, the bandits arrived
in the school around 1am on Friday morning with Hilux vehicles and motorcycles
and forcefully evacuated the students.
The eyewitness,
who begged for anonymity, also narrated that some of the bandits were in
uniforms and pretended to be security personnel, then later broke into the
students hostels and abducted more than 300 students.
“When they
came into the school, we thought they were security personnel but to our utmost
fear and dismay, they started putting the girls into Hilux vehicles and
motorcycles then drove out of the school,” the source said, adding that the
bandits were in the school for several hours without any challenge due to
absence of the security agents.
A parent of
one of the girls, who gave his name as Malam Lawal Jangebe, said, “I nearly
fainted when I heard about the abduction of the students including my
daughter.”
Confirming
the incident on phone, the State Police Public Relations Officer, Mohammed
Shehu, said, “We are right now on our way going to the school where the
incident happened.”
Shehu said
that, the police would brief the press when they returned from Jangebe town
where the students were abducted.
The Zamfara
abduction occurred some eight days after gunmen kidnapped dozens of students
and workers of Government Science College in Kagara, Niger State.
Bandits had
also last year kidnapped over 300 schoolboys from Government Science Secondary
School in Kankara, Katsina State.
Aside from
Kankara and Kagara, non-state actors had also abducted hundreds of secondary
school girls from Chibok, in Borno State; and Dapchi in Yobe State.
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