Toddlers among more than 50 schoolchildren kidnapped in Nigeria
BBC • • world
Key Points:
- Over 50 children, mostly aged between two and five years, were kidnapped from three schools in Mussa, Borno state, Nigeria, by gunmen who used them as human shields while escaping on motorbikes.
- The abductions occurred at Government Day Secondary School, Mussa Central Primary School, and SUBEB Primary School, with no group yet claiming responsibility, though Boko Haram is suspected.
- The attackers arrived shortly after security troops had left the town, firing sporadically and causing panic among residents, some of whom fled the area due to ongoing insecurity.
- Parents remain anguished and helpless, with some children managing to escape during the chaos, while the local community urgently calls on the government for assistance in securing the children's safe return.
- This incident adds to a broader pattern of mass abductions in Nigeria's northeast, where decades of conflict have left communities vulnerable to militant attacks.