BAUCHI/KADUNA, Nigeria— Bandits have released 15
more students kidnapped last month from a Baptist school in northwest Nigeria,
officials told Reuters on Sunday.
اضافة اعلان
School administrator Reverend John Hayab said that parents
had raised and paid an undisclosed
ransom to free the students, who were among
more than 100 taken on July 5 from the Bethel Baptist High School.
"The students are already being released and would be
handed over to their parents any moment from now," Hayab said.
Hayab previously said the abductors were seeking 1 million
naira ($2,430) per student.
Kaduna state's commissioner for internal security, Samuel
Aruwan, confirmed the release but did not immediately comment on the ransom
payment.
Kidnappers released 28 children from the school in July
following the release of a first group of 28 two days after the raid. Around 80
had remained in captivity before Sunday's release.
Armed bandits seeking ransoms have abducted more than 1,000
students from schools in northwest Nigeria since December, and Kaduna state
schools remain closed due to the threat.
President Muhammadu Buhari in February called on state
governments to stop paying bandits, and Kaduna Governor Nasir El-Rufai publicly
refuses to pay. But desperate parents and communities often raise and pay
ransoms themselves.
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