According to media reports, dozens of schoolchildren have been kidnapped in Nigeria, West Africa. An armed group attacked a primary school in the town of Kuriga in the northwestern state of Kaduna.
Based on eyewitness accounts, local media reported between 100 and 287 girls and boys abducted. Teachers were also kidnapped. The government and police initially did not comment on the incident.
At the end of February there was a mass kidnapping of internally displaced persons in the northeastern state of Borno. According to United Nations estimates, more than 200 people were abducted. The exact number of those kidnapped was not known in this case either.
Since 2014, the Islamist terrorist militia Boko Haram and criminal groups have kidnapped numerous women and children in the north of Africa’s most populous country with around 220 million inhabitants. This involves either ransom extortion, forced recruitment into armed groups or sexual violence. Almost exactly ten years ago, in April 2014, the abduction of 276 students from their boarding school in the city of Chibok caused worldwide horror. Many of the girls are still missing.
