Parents and a village leader claimed on Saturday that gunmen in Nigeria’s northern Zamfara state had rescued 74 of the more than 80 children abducted earlier this month.
Hundreds of communities in northern Nigeria have been attacked by armed gangs in recent years, and Islamist terrorists continue to carry out attacks in the country’s northeast.
According to two parents from Zamfara’s Wadzamai village, children who had been critically starved were among those released on Friday after their parents paid a ransom of 20,000 nairas ($43.50) each.
A local chief in Wadzamai said that 11 individuals were still being held captive and that two of them were killed while trying to flee.
The Zamfara police force’s spokesperson refused to comment at this time.
Kidnappers in Nigeria often keep captives for months in the jungle if a ransom is not paid, and they also demand protection fees from farmers and communities in return for allowing them to utilize the land and collect their crops.
