UPDATED: Bandits seize 140 schoolchildren in Kaduna

Bandits have abducted over 140 students from Bethel Baptist School at Maraban Rido, Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

This is the third major abduction by bandits in Kaduna State in the last 24 hours.

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At least eight people were also abducted from the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Centre in Zaria early on Sunday morning.

On Monday, reports emerged of another mass kidnapping from a school near Kaduna city, about 80km (50 miles) south-west of Zaria.

The mother of a 15-year-old girl who was kidnapped from Bethel Baptist School told the BBC that 140 schoolchildren had been seized by a large group of armed men who arrived on motorbikes and broke down the fence.

A statement by the police said gunmen “overpowered the school’s security guards and made their way into the students’ hostel where they abducted an unspecified number of students into the forest.”

A total of 26 people – including a female teacher – had been rescued, the statement said.

A local Christian leader said there were 180 students in the school, only 20 of whom had been accounted for so far. However, he said some of them may have escaped.