* Attackers abduct girls in Jangebe town
* School abduction is Nigeria's third since December
* State's governor orders all boarding schools closed
* Seven girls evaded kidnappers, says parent
* Kidnappings fuelled by government ransoms, say officials
(Adds Buhari comments, state governor)
By Hamza Ibrahim
KANO, Nigeria, Feb 26 (Reuters) - An operation to rescue
more than 300 girls kidnapped in Nigeria had failed to pinpoint
their location by late on Friday, almost 24 hours after gunmen
seized them in a raid on their school.
The raid in Zamfara state, where the governor ordered all
boarding schools to close immediately, was the second such
kidnapping in little over a week in the country's northwest, a
region increasingly targeted by militants and criminal gangs.
Zamfara police said they had begun search-and-rescue
operations with the army to find the "bandits" who took the 317
girls from the Government Girls Science Secondary School in the
town of Jangebe.
"There's information that they were moved to a neighbouring
forest, and we are tracking and exercising caution," Zamfara
police commissioner Abutu Yaro told a news conference.
All the abductees remained at large, but the parent of one
of them, Mohammed Usman Jangebe, said seven of their schoolmates
had resurfaced after escaping the raiders by hiding in gutters.
The assailants stormed in at around 1 a.m., firing
sporadically, said Zamfara's information commissioner, Sulaiman
Tanau Anka.
"Information available to me said they came with vehicles
and moved the students. They also moved some on foot," he told
Reuters.
By late Friday, there had been no claim of responsibility
for the raid.
School kidnappings were first carried out by jihadist groups
Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province but the tactic
has now been adopted by other militants whose agenda is unclear.
They have become endemic around the increasingly lawless
north, to the anguish of families and frustration of Nigeria's
government and armed forces. Friday's was the third such
incident since December.
The rise in abductions is fuelled in part by sizeable
government payoffs in exchange for child hostages, catalysing a
broader breakdown of security in the north, officials have said,
speaking on condition of anonymity. The government denies making such payouts, and President
Muhammadu Buhari reiterated on Friday that it would will not
succumb to blackmail.
In a statement isued late on Friday, he also appealed to
state administrations not to reward bandits with money or
vehicles.
RAGE AND FRUSTRATION
Jangebe town seethed with anger over the abduction, said a
government official who was part of the delegation to the
community.
Young men hurled rocks at journalists driving through the
town, injuring a cameraman, the official said, speaking on
condition of anonymity.
"People mobilised to block security operatives, journalists
and government officials from getting access to the main town,"
he said.
Parents also had no faith in authorities to return their
kidnapped girls, said Mohammed Usman Jangebe told Reuters by
phone.
"We are going to rescue our children, since the government
isn't ready to give them protection," he said.
"All of us that have had our children abducted have agreed
to follow them into the forest. We will not listen to anyone now
until we rescue our children."
MILITARY SHAKEUP
Buhari replaced his long-standing military chiefs this month
amid the worsening violence.
Last week, unidentified gunmen kidnapped 42 people including
27 students, and killed one pupil, in an overnight attack on a
boarding school in the north-central state of Niger. The
hostages are yet to be released. In December, dozens of gunmen abducted 344 schoolboys in
northwest Katsina state. They were freed after six days but the
government denied paying a ransom.
Islamic State's West Africa branch in 2018 kidnapped more
than 100 schoolgirls in northeast Nigeria, all but one of whom -
the only Christian - were released. A ransom was paid, according
to the United Nations.
Perhaps the most notorious kidnapping in recent years was
when Boko Haram militants abducted 276 schoolgirls from Chibok
in Borno state in April 2014. The incident drew widespread
global attention, with then U.S. first lady Michelle Obama among
the prominent figures calling for their return.
Many have been found or rescued by the army, or freed years
later after negotiations between the government and Boko Haram,
according to sources, but 100 are still missing.
Ikemesit Effiong, head of research at Lagos-based risk
consultancy SBM Intelligence, said many northern governors were
keen to pay to avoid protracted hostage situations attracting
international outrage, which in turn gave an incentive for more
abductions.
"When you have these mass abductions now and you see victims
are released relatively quickly, unlike Chibok, the one thing
that has changed is money," Effiong said.
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