Fifteen schoolchildren
kidnapped by gunmen earlier
this week in Abia have been
released unharmed following
an operation by security
services, a senior police
officer said on Friday.
"All the 15 schoolchildren
that were abducted on
Monday have now regained
freedom. They were rescued
by a combined team of army
and police security services
late last night in the forest
of Ogwe-Asa in Abia state,"
police Commissioner
Jonathan Johnson of Abia
State said.
He said all the children were
now in the southern town of
Aba, where the youngsters
were believed to have been
held since gunmen hijacked
their bus on the way to
school.
On Thursday, hundreds of
soldiers in armoured
vehicles sealed off the town
in lawless Abia state on the
fringes of the Niger Delta in
a major security sweep.
Kidnapping for ransom is
relatively common in and
around the Niger Delta, a
deeply impoverished area
despite being home to
Africa's largest oil and gas
industry.
However, the abduction of a
large group of children, some
of them as young as 3, caused
outrage. President Goodluck
Jonathan condemned the
kidnapping as "utterly
callous and cruel".
Initial reports suggested the
kidnappers were seeking a
ransom of 20 million naira,
although newspapers said on
Thursday that demand had
dropped to 350,000 naira.
Three French oil workers
were kidnapped from a
drilling supply ship last
week, and police in nearby
Rivers state say five women
were kidnapped two weeks
ago by a gang believed to be
from Abia State. There has
been no word on the fate of
either group.
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