Troops rescue three more Baptist students in Kaduna forest

By : Saxone Akhaine, Kaduna

Date: 4 August 2021 5:11am WAT

[FILES] Parents of abducted students of Bethel Baptist High School sit outside the school banner to pray for the return of their children whom were abducted by gunmen in the Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna state, northwest Nigeria on July 14, 2021. - The girls are just two of the more than 100 Nigerian children snatched from Bethel Baptist High School nearly three weeks ago, herded by gunmen into the forests after a kidnapping raid on their dormitories. The July 5 attack in Nigeria's northwest Kaduna state was just the latest mass abduction at a school or college as kidnap gangs seeking quick ransoms zero in on soft target of young students. Armed kidnappings for ransom along highways, and from homes and businesses now make almost daily newspaper headlines in Africa's most populous country. (Photo by Kola Sulaimon / AFP)

Another set of three abducted students of the Bethel Baptist School in Kaduna State wandering in the forest have been rescued by troops.

The students, who are all male, were found by troops at the Kankumi forest general area in Chikun Local Council where they were abandoned by their abductors.

Although, at press time, the police or school management had yet to confirm the rescue, residents told journalists that the three students escaped from the bandits.

Besides, after their kidnap from their school on July 5, they were reportedly re-kidnapped by another group of bandits while wandering inside the forest.

The second set of bandits were said to have renegotiated and collected ransom from the parents of the three students, after which they dumped them inside the forest before they were found by the troops.

Meanwhile, the students have being debriefed by the military, after which they would be handed over to the school authorities, and subsequently to their parents.