Nigerian school kidnap survivor describes beatings and chains

A Nigerian school principal said on Monday that some of the more than 40 schoolchildren kidnapped in May were blindfolded and beaten while in captivity, and that male staff were blindfolded, handcuffed and chained.

Rachael Alamu, head of one of the affected schools, spoke at Oyo government offices as the military formally handed over the freed children and teachers. Their rescue had been announced on Friday.

The students had been taken from three schools in southwestern Oyo state and held for nearly two months. The attack was blamed on jihadists. AFP reported that mass kidnappings have occurred in Nigeria before, but that the Oyo attack was unusual for the country's usually safer southwest.

Alamu said the group spent 56 days in captivity, was moved from one part of the forest to another to avoid detection, and had little food. She said the captives were forced to walk for as long as four hours when their hiding place was discovered. She also said the youngest children had cloth tied over their mouths and were badly beaten.

Alamu and Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde said two male teachers were killed, one during the initial attack and another while in captivity. The army said the children and staff were rescued in carefully planned operations carried out with intelligence agencies, police and local vigilante groups. Makinde said five security personnel, including vigilante members, were killed during the operation.

Nigeria has been fighting a jihadist conflict in which armed Islamist groups have spread and split beyond their northeastern strongholds. President Bola Tinubu blamed the kidnapping in Oyo's Oriire local government area on militants from Ansaru, a Boko Haram splinter group described in the AFP report as operating in central Nigeria and extending into the southwest.