15 abducted pupils escape

FIFTEEN Nigerian hostages have escaped from their abductors as they slept, weeks after they were among more than 130 pupils and teachers snatched by gunmen from an Islamic seminary, the school’s head teacher said yesterday.

On May 30 around 200 motorcycle-riding gunmen stormed Tegina town in Niger state, abducting 136 pupils and some teachers, according to authorities.

On Saturday, 15 of the hostages slipped past the bandits guarding them in a house in a village in neighbouring Zamfara state while they were asleep, said Abubakar Alhassan, the head teacher of Salihu Tanko Islamic school from where the hostages were taken.

The escapees, nine boys and six girls, including a seven-year old girl, had trekked through the night to Birnin Gwari district in Kaduna state.

The 15 had been separated from the other hostages and taken across the border into Zamfara state where they were beaten, the teacher said.

All 15 had been reunited with their families, he said, expressing hope the others would be freed soon.