ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Some 130 schoolchildren and staff abducted from a Nigerian Catholic school last month by gunmen have been released, police said Sunday.
Gunmen seized at least 303 schoolchildren and 12 teachers in Nigeria’s north-central Niger state when they attacked St. Mary’s Catholic School in the Papiri community on Nov. 21.
Fifty escaped in the hours that followed and 100 schoolchildren were freed earlier this month.
Niger State police spokesperson Wasiu Abiodun said in a statement that “the remaining batch of the abducted students” has now been released.
“A total number of 130 victims including the staff have been released,” Abiodun said.
When asked about the 35 unaccounted for schoolchildren and missing teachers, Abiodun told The Associated Press: “Further details will be communicated.”
Presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga said in a post on X that the “remaining 130 schoolchildren abducted” have been released.
He said the released schoolchildren would arrive in Minna, the Niger state capital, on Monday and rejoin their parents for Christmas.
“The freedom of the schoolchildren followed a military intelligence driven operation,” Onanuga said.
Sunday Dare, another spokesperson for Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu also said 130 schoolchildren were released and that none are left in captivity, in a post on X.
No group has claimed responsibility for the Nov. 21 abduction, but locals blamed armed gangs that target schools and travelers in kidnappings for ransoms across Nigeria’s conflict-battered north.
The Niger state attack was among a spate of recent mass abductions in Nigeria, and happened four days after 25 schoolchildren were seized in similar circumstances in neighboring Kebbi state’s Maga town. A church in southern Kwara state was also attacked around the same time and the 38 worshippers abducted in that attack last month were freed.
Bola Tinubu had been under pressure at home and from U.S. President Donald Trump, who has alleged that Christians are being targeted in Nigeria’s security crisis.
Nigerian authorities usually do not say much about rescue efforts and arrests in such cases are rare. Analysts believe that’s because ransoms are usually paid. Officials do not admit payment of ransoms.
