Fifty Kidnapped Niger State School Children Escape From Abductors

Fifty of the 315 children kidnapped by gunmen from a Catholic school Niger State on Friday have escaped.

The Christian Association of Nigeria says they have been reunited with their families.

A major military-led search and rescue operation is under way for the remaining 265 children and 12 teachers who were taken with them.

In another development, 38 people abducted from a Church service in Kwara state last week were freed on Sunday, the state governor said.

Two people were killed in the attack on Christ Apostolic Church in Eruku.

News of the children’s escape brought welcome relief for families and for a country that has been agonizing over the fate of hundreds of school children abducted in Nigeria’s Northwest.

According to a Christian group involved in the case, the pupils managed to escape between Friday and Saturday in what is being described as a brave and risky attempt to flee their captors.

The students and teachers were taken from St Mary’s School in Papiri, Niger state. Earlier reports spoke of 303 students and 12 teachers being taken.

Their number surpasses the 276 abducted during the infamous Chibok mass abduction of 2014.

Police say armed men stormed St Mary’s at around 2am abducting students staying there.

Niger state governor Mohammed Umaru Bongo announced on Saturday that all schools in the area would close, warning that was “not a time for blame game”.

Calling for the release of the abductees, Pope Leo XIV expressed “immense sadness” and urged the government to act swiftly.

The Military, Police and local vigilantes are conducting a search for the children, combing nearby forests and remote routes believed to have been used by the gunmen.

Authorities in Niger state said St Mary’s School had disregarded an order to close all boarding facilities following intelligence warnings of a heightened risk of attacks. The school has not commented on that allegation.