MAIDUGURI: Gunmen in Nigeria kidnapped 35 people from a university in northwest Zamfara state on Friday, the governor’s spokesman said, the first major abduction involving students this year.
Armed gangs have plagued the northwest in recent years, kidnapping for ransom, looting and destroying communities and murdering civilians. Security forces’ attempts to halt their rampage have met with little success.
Mugira Yusuf, spokesman for the Zamfara state governor, said 24 students, 10 workers and a security guard were seized by armed men in the early hours of Friday from the Federal University of Gusau.
Soldiers had rescued six female students and killed five abductors during a shoot-out, a security source said.
The source said a joint security operation between the army and police was underway to free those still in captivity.
Kidnappings of students, once a notorious tactic by Islamist militants to intimidate the population, have become a money-spinning industry for armed gangs demanding ransom payments.
President Bola Tinubu promised to end widespread insecurity during his election campaign earlier this year but he is yet to spell out how he will tackle the problem.