Why schoolchildren are often abducted in Nigeria and who the usual kidnappers are

ABUJA Nigeria AP Nigeria suffered its second mass school abduction this week with leadership confirming an attack on a Catholic school in the conflict-battered northern region of the country on Friday A total of schoolchildren and teachers were abducted in Friday s attack at St Mary s School in Niger state s Papiri society It wasn t promptly validated who the attackers were Local police disclosed they have deployed a gang to rescue the children Friday s attack happened four days after students were abducted in neighboring Kebbi state Niger state closed all its schools following the latest abduction School kidnappings have come to define insecurity in Africa s most of populous nation and analysts say it s often because armed gangs see schools as strategic targets to draw more attention UNICEF commented last year that only of schools across of the conflict-hit states have early warning systems to detect threats The kidnappings are happening amid U S President Donald Trump s states of targeted killings against Christians in the West African country Attacks in Nigeria affect both Christians and Muslims The school attack earlier this week in Kebbi state was in the Muslim-majority Maga town Kidnappers in the past have included Boko Haram a jihadi insurgency that carried out the mass abduction of Chibok schoolgirls more than a decade ago bringing the Islamic extremist group to global attention But dozens of bandit groups have become ongoing in the hard-hit northern region often targeting remote villages with a limited assurance and executive presence At least students have been seized in the years since the Chibok attack a large number of circulated only after ransoms were paid Here s what s to know about northern Nigeria s widespread insecurity Boko Haram and an Islamic State affiliate Boko Haram has long menaced large parts of Nigeria s north especially the northeast as well as parts of neighboring Cameroon Niger and Chad The militant group has sought to impose an Islamic state in the region and its name meaning books are forbidden rejects Western learning In Boko Haram burst onto the global stage with the Chibok abduction Four years later its fighters abducted schoolgirls from a college in Yobe state in the northeast The militants have mounted a strong resurgence this year after splitting in the past with countless fighters now aligned with a local affiliate of the Islamic State group The exact number of fighters with each group is unknown though they are estimated in the low thousands The groups continue to recruit sometimes forcibly youth who have been left vulnerable in a region that Nigerian government and humanitarian organizations struggle to serve safely The Trump administration s deep cuts in foreign aid to Nigeria this year haven t helped Abductions for ransom Other armed groups in northern Nigeria carry out abductions largely for ransom Officials have declared they include mostly former herders who took up arms against farming communities after clashes between them over increasingly strained materials Schools have been a popular target of the bandits who are motivated more by money than religious beliefs The attacks often occur at night with gunmen at times zooming in on motorbikes or even dressed in military uniforms and then disappearing into the vast under-policed landscape There is growing concern about links between the bandits and the militant groups notably in the northwest While often conflated with the militant Islamist groups the bandits operating in northwestern Nigeria are a distinct driver of instability in this region the U S -backed Africa Center for Strategic Studies explained earlier this year noting that the bandits are thought to be responsible for about the same number of deaths there as Boko Haram and the IS affiliate are in the northeast In gunmen on motorcycles attacked a cabinet secondary school in Katsina state and abducted more than boys The state regime broadcasted their release within a week In gunmen abducted more than schoolgirls in a nighttime raid on a leadership secondary boarding school in Zamfara state Within weeks all were disclosed after the apparent payment of a ransom And in gunmen on motorcycles abducted students at a establishment secondary school in Kaduna state Nigeria s safeguard challenges Nigeria has struggled for years to combat Boko Haram and other armed groups at times striking and killing civilians in mistaken air assaults meant for militants The military also has carried out airstrikes and special operations targeting the hideouts of armed gangs But Islamic extremists in latest months have repeatedly overrun military outposts mined roads with bombs and raided civilian communities despite the military s suggests of success against them That surge in activity has strained defense efforts across Nigeria s north Last month President Bola Tinubu replaced the country s prevention chiefs Earlier this year the U S establishment approved the sale of million in arms to strengthen Nigeria s fight against insurgencies and criminal groups More just now however Trump has threatened Nigeria with foreseen military action and a halt to all aid and assistance while alleging that Nigeria s governing body is failing to rein in the persecution of Christians Nigeria has rejected the claim Source