A video apparently made by Boko Haram insurgents was published by a Nigerian news website, showing dozens of schoolboys kidnapped last week being held in a wooded area, and pleading with the authorities to negotiate their freedom and stop military action.
The authenticity of the video, published by HumAngle, which covers insecurity in West and Central Africa, couldn't be immediately verified. Army spokesman, Sagir Musa, didn't immediately answer a call on his mobile phone seeking comment.
Armed assailants entered the northern town of Kankara on Dec. 11 and opened fire before entering the boys' school, causing students and staff to flee while an unknown number were forcefully taken away. Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina state, who's in charge of the area, said at least 337 students were unaccounted for after the attack.
Within days, Boko Haram, whose name roughly translates as “Western education is forbidden,” claimed responsibility for the attack. The group also carried out similar attacks in the past, seizing 276 girls from a school in the northeastern town of Chibok in 2014 and another 110 from the northern town of Dapchi in 2018.
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