UPDATED: Terrorists abduct 15 pupils in another attack in Sokoto

At least 15 pupils have been abducted from a Tsangaya school by terrorists who raided Gidan Bakuso in Gada Local Government Area of Sokoto State on Saturday.

A Tsangaya or almajiri school is a facility for the teaching of the Quoran and Islamic knowledge.

The latest abduction is coming a few days after terrorists abducted 287 pupils of primary and secondary schools in Kuriga in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

Gidan Bakuso is located in the eastern part of Sokoto State and shares border with Niger Republic.

The terrorists were said to have attacked a house and abducted a woman but made a stop-over at the Tsangaya school.

“The terrorists abducted a woman inside the community and were going out when they passed through our school. The pupils were sleeping outside so when they heard the roar of motorcycles and the outcry of the woman they (pupils) woke up in number and started running into their various rooms,” Liman Abubakar, the head of the Tsangaya school, told VOA Hausa as monitored by PREMIUM TIMES.

“We have so far counted 15 of our pupils who are missing and we are still searching for more,” Mr Abubakar said.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered from a local politician who asked not to be named for security reasons that the communities around Gada, Goronyo, Isa and Sabon Birni are under terrorists’ onslaught.

“We are from the opposition party so when we speak, they would say were politicising the security situation. But to be honest with you, yesterday abduction (at Tsangaya) should have been averted. These terrorists came on several motorcycles, fired several shots in the air and abducted several children without any efforts by security agents to thwart the attack,” he said.

Speaking to Daily Trust over the abduction, a lawmaker from Gada, Kabiru Dauda, said security in the area is deteriorating.

“I reached out to the local government authorities and security agencies and I am sure they are doing something about it,” he said

The police spokesperson in the state, Ahmad Rufa’i, later confirmed that 15 pupils and a woman were abducted in the incident.

Earlier, Mr Rufa’i had said officers had been despatched to the area to ascertain the situation and provide security.

Abduction of pupils has become one of the most common and daring escapades for terrorists.

From 2020 when the terrorists struck and abducted about 300 pupils from Government Science Secondary school Kankara in Katsina State, attacks on schools and abduction of students became a norm as it happened repeatedly in Zamfara, Kaduna, Niger and Kebbi states. The female pupils abducted in Kebbi spent about two years in captivity with most of them married off to the terrorists.