By Garba Muhammad
KADUNA, Nigeria March 14 (Reuters) - Armed men attempted to
kidnap more students in Nigeria's Kaduna state overnight on
Sunday, a state government official said, as 39 others from an
earlier attack remain missing.
Attacks by armed gangs, usually referred to as bandits, have
intensified across northwest Nigeria in recent years. Four
school kidnappings since December have provoked nationwide
outrage. Some 39 students, including a pregnant woman, are still
missing from Thursday's abduction from the Federal College of
Forestry Mechanization, in northwest Nigeria.
Samuel Aruwan, Kaduna state commissioner of internal
security and home affairs, said police, army and others had
repelled attacks on another school and at a local government
office near Kaduna airport.
"The Kaduna state government extends its unequivocal
solidarity to the military, police, Department of State Services
and other security agencies, whose swift intervention prevented
the bandits from abducting more persons," Aruwan said.
All 307 students at the Government Science Secondary School
in Ikara were accounted for, Aruwan said, adding that the army
and air force also repelled an attack on senior staff quarters
in Ifira village in Igabi local government area.
Aruwan did not refer to a video that circulated on Saturday
of missing students from the Federal College of Forestry
Mechanization, showing them being beaten and cowering.
In that video, a college student said their captors wanted a
500 million naira ($1.3 million) ransom. "As a government, our focus is on getting back our missing
students and preventing further episodes of school abductions,"
Aruwan said.
President Muhammadu Buhari, speaking in a video message
posted on Twitter on Sunday, ordered states to tackle security
issues at every level and said military service chiefs would
quickly address broader security issues.
"We are going to be very hard on the criminals," he said,
adding that "confidence must be restored in governance within
the next six weeks."
($1 = 380.5500 naira)