All 24 kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls rescued after armed attack in Kebbi, president says

All 24 schoolgirls who were abducted by armed assailants from a school last week in Nigeria’s Kebbi state have been rescued, the country’s president announced Tuesday.

Gunmen with “sophisticated weapons” abducted the girls around 4 a.m. on Nov. 17, police said at the time, and a statement Tuesday quoted President Bola Tinubu as saying that all 24 of the students who had been abducted were rescued. 

“I am relieved that all the 24 girls have been accounted for,” the statement quoted Tinubu as saying. “Now, we must put as a matter of urgency more boots on the ground in the vulnerable areas to avert further incidents of kidnapping.”

No details were released about the rescue mission or about the group that kidnapped the girls.

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The attack in Kebbi was among a spate of recent mass abductions in Nigeria.

Attackers raided a Catholic school Friday in north-central Niger state and abducted more than 300 students and staff. 

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School officials said Sunday that 50 students, ages 10 to 18, escaped individually between Friday and Saturday. A total of 253 students and 12 teachers were still being held, they said.

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Nigeria has seen a series of attacks on Christians and their institutions, prompting President Donald Trump to declare the West African nation a “country of particular concern.” However, the Nigerian government has disputed the U.S. claims.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.