In Nigeria, gunmen have again kidnapped dozens of students. In Kaya, in the northwest of the African country, they kidnapped 73 students from a secondary school, local police say.
A rescue operation has been launched after the Government Day Secondary School in the remote village was attacked, a Zamfara state police spokesman said. It is not known whether any students were actually liberated. An employee of the school tells Reuters news agency that there are 500 students at the school.
Kidnappings of schoolchildren are much more common in Nigeria: more than 1,000 students have been abducted in the northwest of the country since December last year.
Zamfara is one of four states that have taken steps to address the security crisis. For example, the sale of fuel in jerry cans and the transport of firewood by truck is prohibited. The state hopes that this will make it difficult for gangs to travel by motorcycle and camp in forests.
Profitable Company
The kidnappers usually demand a large ransom. “It is a profitable business in a country where many young people are poor, unemployed and hungry,” Nigerian political science professor Ernest Ereke previously told the AP news agency. “The state, which should deal with the criminals, is actually helping them by meeting their demands.”
In most cases, the students are eventually released, but there are stories of children who died or were murdered in captivity, according to the AP news agency.
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