Two days after another serious attack in northern Nigeria, it is still not clear how many students are missing in Kankara in Katsina state. There is sometimes talk of 400 abducted children and young people. According to Gambo Isah, spokesman for the police in Katsina, 200 are believed to be safe. It is not clear if the missing ones were abducted or possibly hiding. Media report parents are in deep concern.
In Kankara, a city of about 250,000 people, 100 to 150 attackers armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles had raided the boarding school for boys attended by about 800 students late Friday night. They fired shots and caused chaos and panic.
One report says that they shot a security guard at the entrance gate and thus gained access to the site. Meanwhile, the bandits’ hideout is said to have been found in a forest. It is reported that there was an exchange of gunfire there on Saturday.
Katsina is home to Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari, who is there on a private visit. He called the attack “cowardly.” (MONROVIA)
by Basit Abbasi
