Eleven children from about 200 abducted at the weekend from an Islamiyya school in Niger State have been freed.
Mary Noel-Berje, media aide to the Governor of the State, said in a statement that authorities are yet to confirm the exact number of students taken away after unidentified gunmen attacked the Salihu Tanko Islamiya School in Tegina, a town in the Rafi local government area.
However, she disclosed that the kidnappers released the 11 after they could no longer walk.
“The released children were regarded as too small and could not walk a long distance, this prompted the kidnappers to release them,” Noel-Berje said. ‘‘The state government is still searching and conducting a house-to-house headcount to ascertain the exact number of children abducted at Tegina,” she said.
Commissioner of Police, Niger State Command, Adamu Usman, disclosed that several gunmen on motorcycles stormed the town on Sunday afternoon; shooting indiscriminately and killing one resident in the process.
However, he declined to give the exact number of students taken away by kidnappers during the attack.