Army Surrounds Gunmen and Their 337 Hostages

Army Surrounds Gunmen and Their 337 Hostages

KANKARA, NIGERIA — The governor of the Nigerian state of Katsina says the Nigerian military has found a group of gunmen and the 337 children they abducted from a government school 6 days ago.

He said the group had been surrounded and negotiations have started.

This is just the latest in a spate of such mass abductions of children in Nigeria.

It started when a large number of gunmen riding motorbikes stormed the compound of a high school in Kankara.

One of the boys who escaped said the attack started around 9:30 on Friday night, and that many students jumped the school fence and fled when they heard gunshots.

However, they were tracked by the gunmen who had flashlights and who tricked them into believing that they were security personnel and asked them to return.

The boys were then rounded up and forced to walk into the forest.

The gunmen later ordered them to stop and started to count the child hostages.

The eye witness said that 520 students were counted and that he did not see anyone else while he was escaping.

The government has blamed the attack on Nigerian bandits who often kidnap children for ransom.