{"id":1899,"date":"2026-07-20T17:09:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T17:09:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topmovingpross.com\/?p=1899"},"modified":"2026-07-20T17:09:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T17:09:39","slug":"children-describe-how-nigerian-militants-moving-south-are-seizing-more-young-captives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topmovingpross.com\/?p=1899","title":{"rendered":"Children describe how Nigerian militants moving south are seizing more young captives"},"content":{"rendered":"
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ESINELE, Nigeria (AP) \u2014 Aliyu Saheed feared he might not see his three young sons again. For nearly two months after al-Qaida-linked fighters carried out a mass abduction of schoolchildren in an area of Nigeria<\/span> formerly free of such attacks<\/span>, he could hardly sleep at night.<\/p>\n

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He wondered what the boys were doing in captivity and how his youngest, just 5 years old, would survive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe day they told us they had been rescued was the happiest day of my life,\u201d the farmer told The Associated Press, as children returned to the community on Friday to feasting and prayers led by pastors and Islamic clerics.<\/p>\n

His boys were among dozens of students abducted<\/span> from their classrooms in Oriire area of southwestern Oyo state on May 15 before being rescued on July 10.<\/p>\n

Children as young as 3 were seized in the attack that awakened many Nigerians to a threat that has been moving south<\/span> through Africa\u2019s most populous nation in the last year. Competition for territory and control of natural resources has intensified among jihadis and other armed groups as they expand beyond the conflict-battered north<\/span> to areas largely spared until now.<\/p>\n

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Nigeria\u2019s forests are used for militants\u2019 expansion<\/h2>\n

The armed men stormed into the agrarian community and took 39 children from three schools. They were marched, along with teachers, into a vast forest reserve nearby. One teacher was killed in the abduction. Two others were killed in captivity, according to local media.<\/p>\n

The forest reserve connects to neighboring Kwara state to the north, which borders northern Nigeria and its long history of mass abductions of students<\/span> by armed groups, often for ransom. Analysts say children and schools are often seen as strategic targets to draw more attention and higher ransoms.<\/p>\n

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has said the attackers in Oyo state were Ansaru militants, a breakaway faction of the Boko Haram militant group that claims to defend the interests of Islam and has been more active in recent years.<\/p>\n

Authorities said the rescue operation was carried out jointly by the military, intelligence agency and police, and that eight kidnappers were arrested while others were killed.<\/p>\n

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The abduction turned attention to Nigeria\u2019s lightly policed forest reserves and their use as a corridor and hiding area for armed groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing to learn is that the forested areas of the country must be much better surveilled because that is where those armed groups operate and keep their victims,\u201d said Joachim MacEbong, a senior analyst at global risk consultancy firm Control Risks.<\/p>\n

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Children described being bound and beaten<\/h2>\n

In interviews with the AP, the children and their parents spoke of horrid conditions in captivity. They said their captors left them in the open without shelter, exposing them to sun and rain.<\/p>\n

Saheed\u2019s eldest son, 9-year-old Shuaib, said he and his brothers tried to distract themselves by thinking about the comfort of home and their mother\u2019s cooking. They were fed a basic meal of boiled rice and palm oil, he recalled.<\/p>\n

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