Thirty children abducted by bandits at Kasai village in the Batsari Local Government Area of Katsina State have been freed.
The Police Public Relations Officer of the Katsina State Police Command, ASP Abubakar Sadiq, confirmed this to Channels Television on Tuesday.
He noted that their release followed a concerted effort by the command, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, which he believed yielded a positive result.
Bandits had on Monday abducted the children, mostly girls, while fetching firewood in the bush.
“Upon receipt of the report, the Command swung into action and launched an investigation to rescue the kidnapped victims as well as arrest the perpetrators. Further development will be communicated in due time, please” the police spokesperson said.
A resident of the area, Muhammad Batsari, also confirmed that the abducted children have been released.
“I was called this (Tuesday) morning that all the kidnapped victims have been released by the bandits.
In another development, gunmen have kidnapped two students of the Federal University Wukari, located in the Southern Senatorial Zone of Taraba State.
The gunmen operated for almost an hour on Monday night, shooting sporadically and injuring many other students without any interference from security agencies, despite the location of a checkpoint a few meters away from the scene of the incident.
A resident, Moses Tapwa, was lucky to have escaped, but two of his staff, who are students of the institution, were not lucky.
The two students abducted were identified as Joshua Sardauna from the Economics Department and Obianu Elizabeth from the Microbiology Department.
The authorities of the school said they were aware of the incident and have commenced efforts to ensure the safe release of the students.
