50 out of over 300 abducted Nigerian schoolchildren escaped, Christian Group confirms

Fifty of the more than 300 children snatched by gunmen from a Catholic school in Nigeria have escaped their captors, a Christian group said in a statement Sunday. "We have received some good news as fifty pupils escaped and have reunited with their parents," said the Christian Association of Nigeria in a statement, adding they escaped between Friday and Saturday.

Gunmen on Friday raided St Mary's co-education school in Niger state, taking 303 children and 12 teachers in one of the largest mass kidnappings in Nigeria.

The abduction came after gunmen had on Monday stormed a secondary school in neighbouring Kebbi state, abducting 25 girls, as security fears mount in Africa's most populous nation, sparking a wave of school closures across other parts of the country.

The number of boys and girls - aged between eight and 18 years - kidnapped from St Mary's is almost half of the school's student population of 629.

The Nigerian government has yet to commenton the number of students and teachers abducted. "As much as we receive the return of these 50 children that escaped with some sigh of relief, I urge you all to continue in your prayers for the rescue and safe return of the remaining victims," CAN chairman in Niger State, Reverend Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, said in the statement.

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