Bello Masari, Governor of Katsina State, has said that 17 of the schoolboys abducted from Government Science Secondary School in Kankara Local Government Area on Friday night have escaped from captivity.
Masari, who made the development known on Monday evening in an interview with newsmen, said the boys were found and had been reunited with their families.
Following the information, some parents trooped to the school premises on Tuesday morning to confirm if their children were among those who escaped.
The governor said that efforts had been intensified to rescue the remaining schoolboys still in captivity safely.
He said one of the escaped children’s father, who is also a teacher at the school, was contacted by the kidnappers who warned that the security forces should stop using helicopters around their hideouts.
However, he said terrorists ordered that adequate money should be earmarked and budgeted by those concerned pending the completion of the ongoing rescue mission.
A resident of Kankara, Mustapha Muhammad Gimba, told HumAngle that about 16 of the kidnapped students were rescued by the military and handed over to the police.
“One of the victims and a neighbor who escaped said they walked for more than 15 hours before he was able to escape from the bush and came back to the school,” Gimba said.
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