Fifty of the more than 300 students kidnapped from a Nigerian Catholic school last week have escaped and have been reunited with their parents, the Catholic Church and Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) said on Sunday (23 November).
But around 253 of them, along with 12 staff members and teachers, are still with the kidnappers, said CAN Chairman Bulus Yohanna, a Catholic Bishop who is also the proprietor of the school.
In a statement, Yohanna said the pupils escaped on Friday and Saturday. Parents rushed to the school in Niger state, to the west of the capital Abuja, after hearing that some children were free.
Amose Ibrahim was one of the parents who went to St. Mary's school to check if any of his three children had escaped.
"Unfortunately, they were not among the escapees," Ibrahim, whose youngest child is six years old, told Reuters by phone.
"As of now, many parents and their loved ones are roaming around the school."
In response to the kidnappings, Pope Leo XIV pleaded on Sunday for the immediate release of those who had been taken in one of the worst mass kidnappings ever recorded in Nigeria.
"I make a heartfelt appeal for the immediate release of the hostages," the Pope said at the end of a mass in St. Peter's Square in Rome.
President Bola Tinubu ordered the hiring of 30,000 more police officers at a meeting with security chiefs on Sunday. He directed the removal of all police from VIP protection services to focus on core duties, especially in remote areas prone to attacks.
In a separate incident, Tinubu said Nigerian security forces on Sunday rescued 38 people who were abducted during a service at Christ Apostolic Church in Kwara state. At least two people died during the attack.
An investigation into a protest outside a Washington, D.C. hotel on 19 February, where President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev was staying, has revealed ...
Global transportation company FedEx has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of International Trade seeking a refund for President Donald Trump's emergen...
Four years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, the war is no longer defined by shock but by scale....
The son of Hollywood filmmaker Rob Reiner, pleaded not guilty on Monday (23 February) to murdering his parents at their Los Angeles home in December. ...
Chinese travellers made an estimated 362.58 million cross-regional passenger trips on Monday, the final day of the Spring Festival holiday, according ...
The United States is set to deploy an additional 200 troops to Nigeria as part of expanded counterterrorism cooperation, according to a senior Nigerian military source.
Security services say they have now rescued all 166 worshippers who were kidnapped by gunmen during attacks on two churches in northern Nigeria last month, a Christian group said on Thursday (5 February).
Nearly 200 people were killed when armed men launched coordinated attacks on remote villages in western and northern Nigeria, authorities and residents said on Wednesday (4 February). Officials described the assaults as among the deadliest this year, amid the country’s worsening security crisis.
Nigeria has filed 57 terrorism-related charges against nine men accused of planning and executing a June 2025 attack in Benue state that killed about 150 people.
Italy said a fond farewell to the Winter Olympics on Sunday with an open-air ceremony in the ancient Verona Arena that celebrated art and sporting achievement at a Games lauded as a model for how to stage such events.
The United States and Iran will hold a new round of nuclear negotiations in Geneva on Thursday as part of renewed diplomatic efforts to reach a potential agreement, Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi announced on Sunday.
Further Iran-U.S. nuclear talks are scheduled in Geneva on Thursday (26 February) as diplomacy resumes over Tehran’s nuclear programme following earlier mediation efforts. But will the talks move Iran-U.S. negotiations closer to a deal, and what should be expected from the meeting?
Mexican authorities said on Sunday that Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as El Mencho and head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), was killed during a military operation in the western state of Jalisco.
The European Parliament’s trade chief has urged a temporary suspension of the EU–U.S. trade agreement approval, citing “tariff chaos” following President Donald Trump’s new 15% tariffs and a U.S. Supreme Court ruling invalidating his previous global tariff programme.
Global transportation company FedEx has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of International Trade seeking a refund for President Donald Trump's emergency tariffs it paid under the overturned International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
Four years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, the war is no longer defined by shock but by scale.
The son of Hollywood filmmaker Rob Reiner, pleaded not guilty on Monday (23 February) to murdering his parents at their Los Angeles home in December. Nick Reiner, 32, entered not guilty pleas to two counts of first-degree murder during an arraignment at Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Thousands of people gathered across Europe and beyond over the weekend in solidarity with Ukraine, as the war with Russia entered its fifth year.
A powerful winter storm has brought large parts of the U.S. Northeast to a standstill, dumping more than a foot of snow across several states and severely disrupting transport and daily life.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment