Nigeria kidnapped children freed after ransom, chief says

Forty-eight children kidnapped in Niger state, Nigeria, were released after a ransom was paid, a local traditional chief and a UN source told AFP.

The children, aged between seven and 12, were released in two groups, Abdullahi Sahonrami, the traditional chief in Mashegu district, said Wednesday. He said 40 children were released on Tuesday night and the remaining eight on Wednesday after ransom was paid.

Sahonrami said bandits had rounded up 54 children on August 5 while they were harvesting groundnuts outside Sabon Rijiya village. He said the first gang held them for three days in a camp in the nearby Zugurma game reserve and released them without demanding payment.

The chief said another gang, loyal to bandit leader Dogo Gide, then seized the children on their way home. He said that gang has ties to militants from the Ansaru jihadist group.

A UN source confirmed the release of the 48 children. The UN source said a girl died while held by the first gang and five children escaped while being taken by the second gang, leaving 48 in captivity.

Gangs known locally as bandits specialise in kidnapping and cattle rustling and target rural communities in northwest and central Nigeria. Some levy payments on mining sites and farmland.

Bandit and jihadist violence has escalated in Niger state as armed groups have set up camps in forests and game reserves. Several groups maintain camps in the Zugurma game reserve in Kainji National Park, using its forests to hold ransom victims.

On Sunday, alleged jihadists released a video purporting to show hundreds of abductees seized from a mosque in Dikera village and surrounding communities in Niger state's Borgu district. The exact number of victims remained unclear.

On Tuesday, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ordered Nigerian security agencies to rescue the abductees.