Notorious Kidnappers free 32 more kidnapped Kaduna students after payment of ransom

About 32 more students kidnapped students of Baptist school in northwest Kaduna state,have been freed by their abductors.

A church leader and family representative broke the news on Friday just hours after nearly 100 pupils snatched from an Islamic seminary in northwest Niger State were reunited with their parents after three months in captivity.

The two mass abductions were part of a string of kidnapping for ransom attacks on Nigerian schools and colleges this year by heavily armed gangs known locally as bandits.

In July, a gang snatched more than 100 students from the Baptist high school in Kaduna, and since then dozens of pupils have been steadily freed or have escaped.

Family representative Reverend Joseph Hayab told AFP: “The bandits released 32 more of the students today Friday. We still have 31 in captivity and we have hope they will be released soon. As with previous students, we had to pay ransom to have them freed but I don’t want to reveal the amount.”

On Thursday, gunmen released 92 pupils kidnapped in May from an Islamic seminary in Niger state. One pupil had died during their nearly 90-day captivity, school officials said.

Nigeria northwest and central states have been caught up in a surge in violence from the heavily armed criminal gangs who loot villages, steal cattle and carry out mass kidnappings.