Armed men abducted 39 students and seven teachers in an attack targeting several schools in Nigeria’s southwestern Oyo State last week, officials and a Christian association have said. The attack took place on Friday in the Ahoro Esinele community in Oriire district, targeting a secondary school and two primary schools.

Elisha Olukayode Ogundiya, chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Oyo State, said 46 people, mostly children aged between two and 16 years, were taken away. Police described it as a “coordinated attack” with armed men simultaneously raiding Baptist Nursery and Primary in Yawota and two other schools in Esiele.

President Bola Tinubu condemned the attack as “barbaric” and promised that the federal government was working with Oyo State to “rescue all the victims”. “We expect a breakthrough soon,” he said in a statement.

Governor Oluseyi Abiodun Makinde said one abducted teacher was killed on Sunday, citing a video. Six suspects have been arrested, including alleged informants and logistics suppliers. A joint rescue operation by soldiers, police and local vigilantes was disrupted after encountering improvised explosive devices planted by the attackers, leaving several wounded.

Mass kidnappings by armed groups have become a serious security challenge in Nigeria in recent years, with criminal gangs exploiting weak security to target travellers, students, and rural communities for ransom. Schools are often targeted, although such attacks are rare in the southwest of the country.

Source: www.aljazeera.com