Nigerian authorities say they have secured the release of the remaining 130 schoolchildren and teachers kidnapped from a Catholic boarding school in the country’s central Niger state. Nigeria’s federal government described the latest release as a “moment of triumph and relief”, after one of the country’s worst mass kidnappings. More than 250 children and staff were abducted from St Mary’s Catholic school in Papiri on 21 November.
Earlier this month about 100 of the children were released. The authorities confirmed “the rescue of the remaining 130 children and staff” in a statement, saying “not a single pupil is left in captivity”. Niger state police chief Adamu Abdullahi Elleman told the BBC that they were being “examined by security forces and… Do you agree that child defilers should be castrated?
