Gunmen abduct 15 children in northern Nigeria days after nearly 300 kidnapped

Armed men raided a boarding school in northwestern Nigeria early Saturday, kidnapping 15 children just days after nearly 300 students were abducted in the same region, the Associated Press reported.

The recent attack occurred in Gidan Bakuso village, Sokoto state, with gunmen seizing children from an Islamic school hostel while they were sleeping.

Saturday’s attack marks the third mass kidnapping in northern Nigeria in a week, following previous abductions of women, children, and students. Last week more than 200 people, mostly women and children, were abducted by suspected extremists in Borno state. On Thursday, 287 students were also taken hostage from a government primary and secondary school in Kaduna state.

The attacks underscore the ongoing security crisis in Nigeria, where ransom kidnappings by armed groups have become widespread. No group has claimed responsibility for the abductions, with suspicions falling on Islamic extremists in Borno state and local herders engaged in conflicts turning to violence.

School kidnappings are frequent in the northern region of Nigeria, particularly following the 2014 abduction of over 200 schoolgirls by Islamic extremists in the village of Chibok in Borno state. Since then, armed groups have specifically aimed at schools to demand ransom for kidnappings, leading to the abduction of at least 1,400 individuals.