Niger: One Dead As Gunmen Kidnap 200 Islamiyya Students In Tegina

No fewer than two hundred Islamiyya (Arabic) school students have been kidnapped by heavily armed men in Tegina, in the Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State.

Channels Television reports that one person was shot dead while another lays critically injured during the attack which happened on Sunday evening, at about 4:30 pm.

A resident who gave his name as Zayyad Mohammed confirmed to newsmen on a phone conversation that the Salihu Tanko Islamiyya school where the incident took place, was built by a retired Immigration Officer.

Naija News understands that details of the operation by the gun-wielding men are still sketchy at the time this report was obtained. Sources, however, noted that the Islamiyya school is not the usual Sangaya boarding Islamic school, but a conventional one where parents send their children on a daily basis for the purpose of acquiring Islamic education.

No comment, however, has been made by the state police command on the development.

This is coming five months after men of the Nigeria Police Force rescued 80 students of Islamiyya schools and four others abducted by gunmen in Mahuta town, Dandume LGA, Katsina State.

Naija News recalls that the Islamic students were on their way back home after they attended a Maulid procession at Unguwar Al-Kasim, a nearby village when they were ambushed by the gunmen.