ISLAMABAD: The gang that abducted a group of young women in Nigeria&#39;s northeast state of Borno a week ago released the remaining 12 late Saturday, a local official told AFP. Their release comes as the country has experienced a surge in abductions of young people over the past two weeks. &quot;All the 12 were released,&quot; Abubakar Mazhinyi, president of the local Askira-Uba council, told AFP, adding that they had been taken to hospital. &quot;They [militants] spoke to the parents,&quot; he said. &quot;It was the parents that went to the bush.&quot; Last Saturday, 13 Muslim women and girls, aged between 16 and 23 were kidnapped near their farms in land near a nature reserve that has become a hideout for the militants. The gang freed one of them after she told them she was nursing a baby. No ransom was paid, with the militants releasing the women because the army was in pursuit, said Mazhinyi. Borno state is at the heart of Nigeria&#39;s conflict with the militants, which started 16 years ago with Boko Haram. It was the scene of the 2014 kidnapping of nearly 300 girls in Chibok. While the militant threat has diminished, both Boko Haram and rival breakaway Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) are still dangerous. The conflict there has claimed the lives of more than 40,000 people and forced more than two million people to flee their homes, according to UN figures. The violence is not confined to the northeast of the country. Last week armed gangs seized more than 300 children from a Catholic school in the central-western Niger delta state. Although some managed to escape, more than 265 children and teachers are still being held. These abductions have been claimed by bandits rather than militants. Nigeria has a history of mass kidnappings, mostly carried out by criminal gangs looking for ransom payments and targeting vulnerable populations in poorly policed rural areas.

Africa

Their release comes as the country has experienced a surge in abductions of young people over the past two weeks.

Abductors free 12 young girls kidnapped in Nigeria

<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: source-sans-pro, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 600; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: capitalize; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: nowrap; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline !important; float: none;" id="isPasted">PAPIRI:&nbsp;Parents of dozens of children kidnapped last week from a Catholic school in Nigeria are desperate for their release, with one father crying out that his son is so young he has not yet learned to speak. Armed gangs seized more than 300 children from a Catholic school in Nigeria&#39;s central-western Niger state, in a resurgence of the mass kidnappings that have long harrowed Africa&#39;s most populous country. The same week, 25 schoolgirls were taken from another school, and 38 worshippers were seized from a church in the east of the country. At least 50 taken from the Catholic school, St Mary&#39;s, managed to escape, but more than 265 children and teachers are still being held. &quot;My son is a small boy. He doesn&#39;t even know how to talk,&quot; Michael Ibrahim said as parents of those still in captivity anxiously awaited their children&#39;s safe release. His son, who is four, suffers from asthma, he said. &quot;We don&#39;t know the condition in which the boy is,&quot; said Ibrahim, adding that the abduction had so sickened his wife that she had to be taken to the hospital. Some of the children abducted are nursery-school age. &quot;I need my child back. I need my child back. If I had the power to bring my child back, I would do it,&quot; another father, Sunday Isaiku, told AFP. Nigeria has a history of mass kidnappings, mostly carried out by criminal gangs looking for ransom payments and targeting vulnerable populations in poorly policed rural areas. Many of the captives get freed or rescued within weeks or months, while some escape on their own. 42 incidents targeting students Nigeria&#39;s first high-profile mass kidnapping was that of the Chibok schoolgirls in 2014, when Islamist group Boko Haram forced 276 girls from their dormitories in the country&#39;s northeast. More than a decade later, about 90 of those girls are still missing. Nigeria suffers from a persistent security crisis fuelled by jihadist attacks and violence by &quot;bandit&quot; gangs that raid villages, kill people and kidnap for ransom. US President Donald Trump earlier this month threatened military action over what he described as the targeted killing of Nigeria&#39;s Christians -- a claim the Nigerian government rejects. The religiously diverse country of 230 million people is the scene of long-brewing conflicts that have killed both Christians and Muslims, often indiscriminately. Four days after the St Mary&#39;s children were taken, no group has claimed the abduction or contacted the school demanding ransom. &quot;At this moment, what we want is to get our 265 students and pupils back and I&#39;m calling on the federal government and the state government to join forces,&quot; Reverend Bulus Yohanna of Kontagora Catholic diocese told AFP. &quot;Please help us... to see them back&quot; and &quot;reunite with their parents&quot;. For Ibrahim, the government is his only hope of seeing his son again. &quot;We don&#39;t know any other way to bring these children if not through the government. I appeal to the government to do all within its powers to see their children are back,&quot; he said, speaking in the local Hausa language. Health worker Cidi Mohamed, 27, recalled hearing gunshots at the school on the night of the raid and then seeing the kidnappers leave with the children. &quot;They put the children at the front and the back&quot; of motorcycles, he said. Global conflict monitoring group ACLED has recorded 42 incidents of violence targeting students in Nigeria this year, a decline from 71 in 2024. About 40% of the abductions involved demands for ransom. &quot;Fragmented bandit groups and other armed actors are the most common perpetrators in these abduction or kidnappings, while Islamist groups are far less frequently responsible for targeted violence against students,&quot; said ACLED.

This handout photo taken by Reverend Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) of Niger state chapter and Catholic Bishop of Kontagora Diocese on November 21, 2025 and distributed on November 22, 2025 shows relatives of a

In the past few weeks, armed gangs have seized dozens of children across Nigeria in a resurgence of the mass kidnappings that have long harrowed Africa's most populous country.

Parents of abducted Nigeria students plead for rescue

LAGOS: Nigeria&#39;s football coach has accused the Democratic Republic of Congo of practising &quot;voodoo&quot; after his squad&#39;s hopes of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup ended in a penalty shootout loss in the African play-offs final.&nbsp;DR Congo and Nigeria drew 1-1 after extra time in the tie in Rabat on Sunday and the central Africans won 4-3 on penalties to book a place in inter-confederation play-offs in Mexico next March.&nbsp;In his post-match remarks to journalists, coach Eric Chelle said a member of the DR Congo team &quot;did some voodoo, every time, every time, every time&quot;.&nbsp;&quot;That is why I was a bit nervous,&quot; said former Mali international Chelle, who took charge of Nigeria in January.&nbsp;Chelle had admitted prior to the match that it was going to &quot;be very difficult in Morocco&quot;.&nbsp;Using hand gestures, he said he saw a DR Congo member waving his hand as if sprinkling or shaking something. &quot;I don&#39;t know if it&#39;s water or something like that.&quot;&nbsp;In a nervy shootout in which four spot-kicks were saved and another missed, DR Congo captain Chancel Mbemba defied a bottle thrown toward him and torrential rain to convert the winning penalty as his country seek a return to the global showpiece after a lengthy absence.&nbsp;Nigeria, an African football giant, lie 19 places above DR Congo in the world rankings and were pre-match favourites.&nbsp;The Super Eagles failed to qualify for the second World Cup in a row. They had not missed back-to-back editions since their debut in 1994.&nbsp;While Nigeria have been regular participants at the World Cup, the sole appearance by the Congolese came in 1974 when the mineral-rich central African country was called Zaire.&nbsp;President Bola Tinubu urged the squad to &quot;put behind them the loss&quot; and to focus on preparing for the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, which runs from December 21 to January 18.&nbsp;&quot;We must now plug all the loopholes. Our football administrators, players ... must go back to the drawing board,&quot; said Tinubu in a statement.

Football

Nigeria’s coach Eric Chelle blamed alleged “voodoo” after a tense penalty-shootout loss ended Nigeria’s 2026 World Cup hopes. Underdog Congo advanced, while President Tinubu urged Nigeria to regroup ahead of the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations.

Articles tagged with "nigeria"

Abductors free 12 young girls kidnapped in Nigeria

Parents of abducted Nigeria students plead for rescue

Nigeria coach blames 'voodoo' after World Cup hopes crushed