24 university students have been kidnapped in north-central Nigeria
Police in Nigeria have confirmed that 24 students have been abducted by gunmen at a university in the north-central part of Kogi State.
An unknown number of armed men abducted students of the Confluence University of Science and Technology (CUS¬TECH) in Osara during a raid on the campus on Thursday.
The state government has named the number of abducted students as nine. But the police spokesperson in Kogi, Williams Aya, has said that the army learned the actual number of kidnapped students after interviewing those who were rescued over the weekend.
On Sunday, police announced that 15 kidnapped university students had been rescued after a fierce battle between security forces and armed gangs.
Terrorists, bandits and armed gangs regularly attack schools and academic institutions and kidnap students in Nigeria.
This comes at a time when more than 100 people have been abducted by armed men during raids in three villages in northwest Nigeria.
Alhaji Bala, the district head in Birnin-Magaji local government area, said gunmen attacked Gora, Madomawa and Jambuzu villages on Friday night. At least 38 men and 67 women and children have disappeared.
Mass kidnapping in Nigeria was first carried out by the Boko Haram terrorist group when they abducted more than 200 students a decade ago, but the crime is now carried out by armed gangs with no known ideology. They often demand a ransom to free their captives.
