The gunmen attacked the school in Agwara Local Government Area after 1:00am local time, with the attack lasting approximately two hours. According to the police, it is a secondary school, which means that it is intended for children between the ages of 12 and 17.
However, according to the AP agency, Dauda Chekula said that his four grandchildren, aged seven to ten, were among the abductees.
Already on Monday, a similar attack took place on a boarding school in the state of Kebbi in the northwest of the country, where gunmen kidnapped 25 girls. It is not yet clear who is behind the attacks.
“The Niger state government is deeply saddened by the disturbing news of the abduction of students from St. Mary’s School,” Reuters quoted a government statement as saying that security forces were searching for the students. President Bolu Tinubu has postponed foreign trips because of the kidnapping.
This is already the umpteenth similar incident in the country. On Monday, for example, 25 schoolgirls were kidnapped from a boarding school in the state of Kebbi, also in the northwest of the country.
The Salafist group Boko Haram has been operating in the north of Nigeria for a long time, whose goal is to make Nigeria a Muslim state based on a strict interpretation of Sharia law.
Nigeria is religiously divided between Islam and Christianity, which prevails in the south of the country. The local government claims that the victims of the rampage of the Salafists are not only Christians, but also Muslims. In early November, the head of the White House, Donald Trump, threatened Nigeria with military intervention due to the persecution of Christians.
“If the Nigerian government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the US will immediately stop all aid to Nigeria and may well enter this now disgraced country with guns blazing to completely wipe out the Islamic terrorists who are committing these horrific atrocities. I hereby order our War Department to prepare for possible action. If we do attack, it will be swift, brutal and stealthy, as well as terrorist bandits are attacking our esteemed Christians! Warning: The Nigerian government should act quickly,” Trump threatened at the time.
