80 abducted Islamiyya students, 4 others rescued in Katsina

All Islamiyya students, who were abducted from an Islamiyya school in Dandume Local Government Area of Katsina on Saturday night, have been rescued by the police.

The students were abducted by unidentified gunmen on their way back from Maulud celebrations at a village called Unguwar Al-Kasim of the same local government area on Saturday.

• Hashtags, media coverage and the Nigerian government’s handling of abductions
• Insecurity: 50 foreigners kidnapped in 3 years

A statement issued by the spokesman of the Police command in Katsina, SP Gambo Isah, on Sunday morning said, at about 10pm Saturday, a distress call was received by the Police that some Islamiyya students of Hizburrahim Islamiyya, Mahuta village were abducted.

“Numbering about 80, while on their way back from Maulud occasion celebrated at Unguwan Alkasim village, Dandume to Mahuta village, [they] were accosted by bandits, who had already kidnapped four persons and rustled 12 cows from Danbaure village, Funtua LGA, trying to escape into the forest.

On receipt of the report, “the DPO led Operations Puff Adder, Sharan Daji and Vigilante group to the area and engaged the bandits into a fierce gun duel.

“Subsequently, the teams succeeded in dislodging the bandits and rescued all the 84 kidnapped victims and recovered all the twelve rustled cows,” the statement read in part.

Isah added that search parties were still combing the area with a view of arresting the injured bandits and recovery of their dead bodies as investigation was ongoing.

The abduction of the Islamiyya students took place a day after 344 schoolboys were rescued in same state.

The boys were abducted on Friday 11th December, 2020 after gunmen raided the all-boys Government Science Secondary School in Kankara village.

The boys were later marched into the nearby Rugu forest.

They spent six days in captivity before they were finally released by the bandits after negotiations with the government at the state and federal levels.