Nigerian mom pleads for child’s return soon after Boko Haram claims obligation for mass faculty kidnapping

A Nigerian female whose only son is between the more than 330 boys nonetheless missing following being kidnapped from their university in the northern Katsina state previous week pleaded for their return in a protest Tuesday, as the jihadist rebel team Boko Haram reportedly claimed duty for the mass abduction.

Hundreds of gunmen with assault rifles on Friday surrounded the Authorities Science Secondary College (GSSS), an all-boys boarding faculty in the city of Kankara, firing at law enforcement prior to rounding up pupils and forcing them to march via the intensely forested region in separated teams, witnesses have claimed.

The Each day Nigerian mentioned Tuesday it been given an audio message from Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau stating that his team abducted the schoolboys because Western education and learning is versus the tenets of Islam.

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“What occurred in Katsina was done to endorse Islam and discourage un-Islamic practices as Western schooling is not the variety of instruction permitted by Allah and his Holy Prophet,” Shekau reported in the recording, in accordance to the newspaper. The audio information has not been independently confirmed. But Shekau has in the earlier released online video and audio messages on Boko Haram’s behalf.

“Prevent killing our little ones, carry again our children,” Amrata Hamza, whose only son was kidnapped, instructed area broadcaster CLIQQ Television throughout a protest structured Tuesday. “I never know the problem of my son. I’m speechless. I just can’t converse, I have not drank h2o because I arrived in Kankara. There is a great deal sunlight, I know our kids are thirsty, they are hungry. Make sure you assist us carry back our children.”

The Nigerian government stated a joint rescue operation was launched Saturday by point out law enforcement, air drive, and army soon after the army engaged in gunfights with bandits right after locating their hideout in the Zango/Paula forest. A lot of of the first 600 male students taken from the college escaped their captors, but far more than 330 remained unaccounted for as of Tuesday, in accordance to the Connected Press.

“We had been inside of the hostel when we heard gunshots. I overheard anyone expressing that the stability person has been killed. As we went out, lights were being flashed at us, as they approached us, we started out listening to gunshots,” Abukakar Umar, a senior pupil at GSSS, instructed CLIQQ Tv, recounting what happened as his university came less than siege. “When it happened, we ran to the bush because bullets were being shot specifically at us. Until eventually we uncovered a safe spot exactly where we slept.”

“To be honest, I really do not have the intention of heading back, for the reason that we have experienced,” Umar extra, describing that he did not prepare to return to the college provided the stability hazard.  

In a statement Monday, Nigerian presidential spokesman Garba Shehu mentioned “the kidnappers experienced built get hold of and conversations have been now on, pertaining to the basic safety and return” of the children to their residences. Shehu did not point out the identification of the abductors, and it was at first considered that the attackers were bandits, who at times function with Boko Haram to maintain people today for ransom cash.

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Numerous armed groups function in northwestern Nigeria, the place Katsina condition is found.

“When we listened to the news, we have been baffled absolutely. We had been told they entered the faculty shooting, going hostel by hostel abducting college students,” Yahaya Kankar, the father of two little ones kidnapped, instructed CLIQQ Tv set. “There was no mercy. It was horrible. They just came and picked our small children like donkeys, like animals. We have by no means imagined a little something like this, to have bandits getting into our school.”

Dajuma Katsina, a regional journalist and community commentator, advised the outlet that the town of Kankara has been attacked almost on a every day foundation for the earlier two months and questioned why the faculty was not delivered adequate protection personnel provided the acknowledged protection risk.  

“A school with extra than 800 students found in a ‘flash point’ place with just a one policeman attached to the university. This is the most burning concern and the most unfortunate point,” Katsina reported. But he also counseled attempts by the Katsina state governor, who “despite the stress, visited the college and equally sympathized with lecturers and mom and dad.”

Boko Haram and the breakaway faction, the Islamic Condition West Africa Province, are fighting to impose demanding Islamic Shariah rule in Nigeria. Hundreds have been killed in the far more than 10-calendar year-previous insurgency and far more than a million folks displaced.

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This newest episode arrives six a long time following Boko Haram kidnapped a lot more than 270 schoolgirls from their dormitory at the Government Secondary School in Chibok in northeastern Borno State in April 2014. First Woman Michelle Obama spotlighted the problem at the time with the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls.

About 100 of the women are nonetheless missing. Boko Haram claimed at the time that it wished to halt ladies from attending educational facilities. The current incident at the Federal government Science Secondary Faculty in Kankara, is the worst assault on a boys’ university because February 2014, when 59 boys were killed in the course of a Boko Haram assault on the Federal Govt Higher education Buni Yadi in Yobe condition.

The Related Push contributed to this report.