Students, teachers and family members released after gunmen stormed college in Kagara two weeks ago

Dozens of schoolchildren, teachers and their relatives have been freed after they were abducted by gunmen in central Nigeria 10 days ago, in one of a rising number of mass kidnaps and attacks that have beset the country.

Their release comes a day after 317 schoolgirls were abducted by gunmen in Zamfara, north-west Nigeria on Friday, sparking widespread dismay and some schools in northern Nigeria to shut.

Kidnappings for ransom and deadly attacks by armed groups known locally as bandits have soared across north and central Nigeria in recent years, with mass abductions endemic, and schools increasingly targeted.

Last week, 27 students, three staff and 12 members of their families were abducted by heavily armed gunmen dressed in military uniforms. The assailants overran the all-boys Government Science College (GSC) in Kagara Town, Niger state, killing at least one student.

“The abducted students, staff and relatives of Government Science College Kagara have regained their freedom and have been received by the Niger state government,” Abubakar Sani Bello, the Niger state governor, said in a tweet.

The government gave no details on how the children were released yet it is common for ransom to be paid to release abducted victims.

Bandits carried out third mass kidnapping of students in three months, police say

Police have said 317 schoolgirls have been abducted in north-west Nigeria, the third mass kidnapping of students in three months in an escalating wave of rural attacks blamed on groups of armed bandits.

The schoolgirls were abducted at about 1am from the town of Jangebe, Zamfara state, from the Jangebe government girls’ secondary school, police said on Friday.

Teachers and family members also taken in deadly attack on boarding school in Niger state

Dozens of schoolchildren, teachers and their relatives have been abducted by gunmen in central Nigeria after an attack on a boarding school, the latest in a rising wave of mass abductions and attacks that have beset the country.

A spokesperson for the Niger state government said 27 students, three teachers and a dozen family members of school staff, 42 people in total, were taken. Earlier reports had indicated hundreds were missing from the school of about 1,000 students.