Gunmen who hijacked a school bus and kidnapped 15 children in Nigeria on Monday have been negotiating with the owner of the school as police stepped up efforts yesterday to free the students, authorities said.
“The kidnappers are relating with the proprietor of the school and we are hopeful for a good outcome,” Abia State police spokesman Geofrey Ogbonna said.
“We are intensifying our efforts to set free the 15 children,” he said.
He did not offer any details on the negotiations with the kidnappers or police efforts to track them down following the -hijacking in the oil-rich south.
The abductors have demanded a ransom of 20 million naira (US$128,900).
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday called the incident “utterly callous and cruel” and pledged government action to free the victims.
The gunmen ordered the school bus driver to stop on the outskirts of Aba city at gunpoint before taking the children of Abayi International School, which serves as both a nursery and elementary school.
All of the children were thought to be Nigerian, and from wealthy families.
The major oil-producing Niger Delta -region has seen scores of -kidnappings in recent years, often by criminal gangs seeking ransom payments, but also by militants demanding a fairer distribution of oil revenue.
Most kidnappings initially involved foreign oil workers, but more recently attackers have also targeted the children and relatives of wealthy Nigerians.
The majority of victims are freed unharmed, often after a ransom is paid.
Okechukwu Nwanguma, head of the Network on Police Reform in Nigeria rights group, called the hijacking “very disturbing.”
“It also shows that this problem of insecurity, and especially kidnapping, is beyond the police and the government,” he said. “Drastic measures need to be taken to smoke out crime and its perpetrators.”
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number