BREAKING: 317 Jangebe girls kidnapped gross abuse – UNICEF

Earlier today, TopNaija reported how not less than 317 Jangebe girls students were abducted by gunmen in the country’s latest mass kidnapping, according to Police in northwest Nigeria.

TopNaija however learnt that rescue operation was underway.

“The Zamfara State Police Command in collaboration with the military have commenced a joint search and rescue operations with a view to rescuing the 317 students kidnapped by the armed bandits in Government Girls Science Secondary School Jangebe,” police spokesman Mohammed Shehu said in a statement.

Heavily-armed criminal gangs known locally as “bandits” in northwest and central Nigeria have stepped up attacks in recent years, kidnapping for ransom, raping and pillaging.

Just last week, 42 people were taken by a gang from a boys school in nearby Niger state.

In December, more than 300 boys were kidnapped from a school in Kankara, in President Muhammadu Buhari’s home state of Katsina, while he was visiting the region.

The boys were later released but the incident triggered outrage and memories of the kidnappings of schoolgirls by jihadists in Dapchi and Chibok that shocked the world.

The United Nations Children Fund on Friday expressed concern over the abduction of over 300 students at the Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe in Talata Mafara Local Government Area of Zamfara State, describing it as “a gross violation of children’s rights.”

The UNICEF Country Representative in Nigeria, Peter Hawkins, in a statement condemned the attack which took place in North West Nigeria.

President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has condemned the attack on Government Secondary School, Jangebe in Zamfara State where hundreds of schoolgirls were abducted on Friday.

Lawan, in a statement by his media aide, Ola Awoniyi, in Abuja, expressed sadness and outrage that the incident happened while efforts were still being made to rescue those abducted just over a week ago at another secondary school in Kagara, Niger State.