Suspected terrorists abduct students, women from historic Christian town in Nigeria
The attack targeted a historic Christian town days after warnings of suspected coordinated attacks by the terrorist group Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria.
Suspected terrorists June 29 kidnapped an unconfirmed number of students from a local school and women from a market in northeastern Nigeria and killed two teachers, according to reports.
Dressed in military attire, “heavily armed” members of the suspected extremist organization Boko Haram entered the town of Lassa on motorcycles and carried out the attack "unchallenged," according to SaharaReporters.
Believing the suspected terrorists were legitimate personnel, soldiers manning the town's security checkpoint opened the gate, according to TruthNigeria. The attackers then split into two groups, with one abducting market women and killing a local trader, while the other entered Government Day Secondary School and abducted students as they were taking a national examination, the outlet reported.
Prior to the attack, troops stationed in Lassa departed for a nearby town, which locals told TruthNigeria was no “coincidence,” adding that the suspected terrorists “exploited the temporary absence of the troops.”
According to TruthNigeria, vigilantes armed with "far inferior weapons" managed to distract the attackers, giving several women and students an opportunity to escape. The outlet later reported that seven abductees escaped, though accounts differed over whether they were rescued by vigilantes or escaped on their own.
The attack came just days after TruthNigeria received intelligence warnings of suspected coordinated Boko Haram attacks in the area.
As Zeale News previously reported, the U.S. State Department has designated Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern facing a “crisis of religious violence.” About 53,000 Nigerian civilians have been killed since 2009.Lassa, a historic Christian town with a population of about 6,000, is one of the earliest centers of Christian mission work, education, and health care in northeastern Nigeria.
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