'We are wholeheartedly broken': Nigerian town devastated by mass kidnapping of schoolboys

As security forces search for hundreds of missing boys, residents recall a night of terror

A man whose son is among those who were kidnapped by gunmen sit under a tree at the Government Science Secondary school in Kankara, northwestern Katsina State, Nigeria. AFP Photo

It was 10.30pm when sporadic gunshots started ringing out in the sky over the village of Kankara in Katsina, northern Nigeria.

Farmer Garba Abubakar was with his wife and six of his 15 children, who were still awake when the shooting started.

By morning, Mr Abubaker, and scores of parents like him, were beside themselves with grief: his son Jafar, 14, who was staying at the nearby boarding school, had been kidnapped, almost certainly by Boko Haram, one of the most violent ISIS-linked groups in the world.

Three hundred and thirty three other children are still missing.

As dawn came, Mr Abubaker and other parents thronged anxiously to the schoolyard after hearing about the abduction, and later provided the school management with names, photos and other information that could help in the search of the missing school boys.

The 64-year-old said he was heartbroken to know his son is “out there in the hands of bandits who are not even making any demands”.

Two women walk past the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Nigeria. Rebels from the Boko Haram extremist group claimed responsibility on Tuesday for abducting hundreds of boys from a school in Nigeria's northern Katsina State last week in one of the largest such attacks in years, raising fears of a growing wave of violence in the region. AP Photo

A motorcycle taxi rides past the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Nigeria. AP Photo

People travel past Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Nigeria. AP Photo

Belongings of missing Government Science Secondary School pupils are are seen at their hostel in Kankara, Nigeria. AP Photo

People inspect a wall and metal door broken by Boko Haram. AP Photo

Children ride on bicycles past a wall broken by the extremists to kidnap the pupils. AP Photo

Belongings of a missing Government Science Secondary School student are seen at their hostel in Kankara, Nigeria. AP Photo

People inspect belongings of the missing pupils. AP Photo

Parents wait for news on their children. AP Photo

Police patrol the school. AFP

A shoe left behind during the kidnapping. AFP

Nigerian soldiers walk inside the school. AFP

"The last time I checked, he was in school studying. No responsible father would be able to sleep ... I hope that my son returns soon,” Mr Abubakar said.

Rebels affiliated with Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the abductions last Friday, one of the largest such attacks in years, raising fears of a growing wave of violence in the region.

On Thursday, African conflict monitor Humangle posted a video on twitter, which it claimed had been filmed by Boko Haram. In the short clip, what appear to be scores of boys stand under armed guard in thick undergrowth, with one of the children addressing the camera, making a coerced statement.

But despite an assault by gunmen with assault rifles, in the chaos hundreds of children managed to escape the Government Science Secondary School.

The government and the attackers are negotiating over the fate of the boys, according to Garba Shehu, a spokesman for Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.

Two of Abdullahi Dantsoho’s cousins, Ahmed, 14, and Muhammadu Dantsoho, 15, and 13-year-old Usman Lawal, his friend’s brother, were abducted during the attack.

"The government is trying to downplay the number of abducted boys,” said Mr Dantsoho, 25, a student of the Federal University Dutsin Ma. Across Nigeria, there has been a public outcry over an alleged cover-up of the real number of missing children.

"What hurts the most is the government has lied about the number of missing boys. Why?” Mr Dantsoho said.

A twitter hashtag, #bringbackourboys – a nod to the #bringbackourgirls campaign after the mass Boko Haram kidnapping of 270 girls in Chibok, northern Nigeria in 2014, has become a rallying point for public anger.

A former student at the school, Aliyu Abba, 22, said the attack began with the gunmen arriving on motorbikes and shooting sporadically into the air before marching into a dormitory.

Mr Abba lives a few kilometres away from the school and was indoors when the attack started. The sporadic shooting created fear and confusion across Kankara until the military arrived.

Mr Abba said the Nigerian army arrived late to the scene of the attack, after which the boys who had fled and were hiding near by, returned.

Soldiers looks at burnt house on February 4, 2016 during a visit to the village of Dalori village, some 12 kilometres from Borno state capital Maiduguri, northeastern Nigeria, after an attack by Boko Haram insurgents on the village left at least 85 people dead on January 30, 2016. - At least 85 people died when Boko Haram insurgents stormed and torched a village on January 30 near the restive northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri, a state commissioner said on February 1, 2016. Boko Haram, which seeks a hardline Islamic state in northern Nigeria, has killed some 17,000 people and forced more than 2.6 million others to flee their homes since 2009. (Photo by STRINGER / AFP)

Babagana Umara Zulum, center, governor of Borno State, prays during a funeral for those killed by suspected Boko Haram militants in Zaabarmar, Nigeria, Sunday, Nov. 29, 2020. Nigerian officials say suspected members of the Islamic militant group Boko Haram have killed at least 40 rice farmers and fishermen while they were harvesting crops in northern Borno State. The attack was staged Saturday in a rice field in Garin Kwashebe, a Borno community known for rice farming. (AP Photo/Jossy Ola)

RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS A videograb released on September 18, 2011 and taken from a video obtained by AFP, said to be from the sect known as Boko Haram shows a young man apparently responsible for last month's bombing of the UN headquarters in Abuja. A soft-spoken, 27-year-old smiling man said to be the UN bomber pleads with his family to understand his actions, and a vague warning is sent out to "Obama and other infidels." During much of his time on the video, he holds an AK-47 while two others lean against the wall. Two gas cannisters are on the floor at his feet. He is rail-thin and wears a striped, polo-style shirt, a turban and what looks to be a suicide vest. AFP PHOTO (Photo by - / AFP)

A screengrab taken on May 12, 2014, from a video released by Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram obtained by AFP shows girls wearing the full-length hijab holding a flag reading "There is no god, but Allah" and "Mohammed is Allah's prophet" at an undisclosed rural location. Boko Haram released a new video on claiming to show the missing Nigerian schoolgirls, alleging they had converted to Islam and would not be released until all militant prisoners were freed. A total of 276 girls were abducted on April 14 from the northeastern town of Chibok, in Borno state, which has a sizeable Christian community. Some 223 are still missing. AFP PHOTO / BOKO HARAM RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / BOKO HARAM" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS (Photo by HO / BOKO HARAM / AFP)

A person walks at the Government Science secondary school in Kankara district, after it was attacked by armed bandits, in northwestern Katsina state, Nigeria December 12, 2020. REUTERS/Abdullahi Inuwa NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES

Funeral for victims of rice and fishermen farmers that were killed by suspected Boko Haram in Zaabarmar, Borno, Nigeria, Sunday, Nov 29, 2020. Suspected Boko Haram militants killed at least 40 rice farmers and fishermen while they were harvesting crops in Nigeria's northern Borno State, officials said. (AP Photo/Jossy Ola)

FILE PHOTO: Names of missing Chibok school girls kidnapped by Boko Haram insurgency five years ago are displayed during the 5th year anniversary of their abduction, in Abuja, Nigeria April 14, 2019. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde/File Photo

A screen grab made on January 20, 2015 from a video of Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram obtained by AFP shows the leader of the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram Abubakar Shekau holding up a flag as he delivers a message. AFP

A screen grab taken from a video released in July by ISWAP purportedly shows a female aid worker from the NGO Action Against Hunger and five male colleagues kidnapped in an attack in north-east Nigeria. AFP

Nigerian soldiers hold the extremist group's flag in the retaken town of Damasak. Reuters

He said the emotional condition of the parents, family and friends waiting for updates about the missing children is “devastating and disturbing”.

“We are wholeheartedly broken,” he said.

Boko Haram, notorious for the Chibok abduction – 100 of those girls are still missing – in February 2014, killed 59 boys in an attack on the Federal Government College Buni Yadi in Yobe State.

The terrorists are thriving in a region of poverty and lawlessness. Bandits have operated in the north-west region for some time, and kidnappings increased in recent years. Amnesty International says that more than 1,100 people were killed in the first six months of 2020 in violence related to attacks by bandits.

Security forces flounder

A rescue operation was launched by the army, with air support, on Saturday, reportedly leading to one clash with the suspected kidnappers. A terrorist hideout was reportedly located in the Zango forest.

Bulama Bukarti, an analyst at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, a non-profit development advocacy organisation, said threats from the bandits had not been taken seriously by the Nigerian government.

“The army is mired n basic logistical challenges and administrative bottlenecks, for example. There is a lack of equipment and the soldiers are few and can be easily overpowered during this sort of operation,” he said.