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Witnesses report 2nd mass-abduction of children in Nigeria in less than a week
Johannesburg — More than 100 students were kidnapped from their elementary school in northern Nigeria early Thursday morning by unknown assailants on motorcycles, witnesses told local media outlets and CBS News’ partner network BBC News. One student was said to have been shot in the chaos at the school in the town of Kugira, in Kaduna state, and taken to a hospital.
BBC quoted witnesses as saying the children were between the ages of 8 and 15, and that one teacher was taken along with them.
The abduction comes just days after another mass-kidnapping in Nigeria’s tumultuous north, which reportedly saw scores of children, mostly girls, seized by militants in Borno state, further to the east.
A Kaduna state official confirmed that a mass-kidnapping had taken place in Kugira to a BBC reporter in Nigeria, without providing further details.
The young women and girls seized by gunmen in Borno had been out collecting firewood on Friday, outside a camp for internally displaced people.
Until last week, there had been a significant drop in the number of kidnappings by criminal groups, commonly known as bandits, in Nigeria. The Nigerian government had issued no comment on either of the attacks by late Thursday afternoon.
AP
Witnesses told local news outlets that more than 100 young woman and several boys were seized on Friday taken from near the Babban Sansani IDP. Reports said a large group of people collecting wood were surrounded by the fighters, who let elderly people go before heading into the bush.
The Nigerian Daily Trust newspaper, quoting a source from inside the Babba Sansani camp, said the fighters were from the Islamic militant group Boko Haram, and “three of the girls who escaped and returned to Ngala said the boys [insurgents] took them” close to a village across Nigeria’s northeast border in neighboring Chad.
The United Nation’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs told the French news agency AFP that an estimated 200 people were taken in that raid, and that head counts were being done at the camp to come up with a more exact number.
There were conflicting reports from witnesses about whether the attackers in Borno state were from Boko Haram or the ISIS affiliate in the region, called the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
Both groups are active in the region.
Borno State Police said the attack took place Friday afternoon, but the force could not confirm the numbers kidnapped or missing.
The abductions come after Borno officials said late last year that most of Boko Haram’s fighters in the state were either dead or had been apprehended.
If the initial counts prove accurate, Friday’s attack would be the largest mass-kidnapping in Nigeria since the April 14, 2014 attack on the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, which saw 276 girls taken from their dormitory by Boko Haram militants.
NEW YORK — Former New York Gov. David Paterson and his stepson were attacked in New York City on Friday night, authorities said.
The incident occurred just before 9 p.m. on Second Avenue near East 96th Street on the Upper East Side, according to the New York City Police Department.
Police said officers were sent to the scene after an assault was reported. When officers arrived, police say they found a 20-year-old man suffering from facial injuries and a 70-year-old man who had head pain. Both victims were taken to a local hospital in stable condition.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the former governor said the two were attacked while “taking a walk around the block near their home by some individuals that had a previous interaction with his stepson.”
The spokesperson said that they were injured “but were able to fight off their attackers.”
Both were taken to Cornell Hospital “as a precaution,” he added.
Police said no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
The 70-year-old Paterson, a Democrat, served as governor from 2008 to 2010, stepping into the post after the resignation of Eliot Spitzer following his prostitution scandal. He made history at the time as the state’s first-ever Black and legally blind governor.
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A 17-year-old boy was critically injured and a person is in custody after a gunman opened fire on a SEPTA bus in North Philadelphia Friday evening, police said.
At around 6:15 p.m., Philadelphia police were notified about a shooting on a SEPTA bus traveling on Allegheny Avenue near 3rd and 4th streets in North Philadelphia, Inspector D F Pace told CBS News Philadelphia.
There were an estimated 30 people on the bus at the time of the shooting, Pace said, but only the 17-year-old boy was believed to have been shot. Investigators said they believe it was a targeted attack on the teenager and that he was shot in the back of the bus at close range.
According to Pace, the SEPTA bus driver alerted a control center about the shooting, which then relayed the message to Philadelphia police, who responded to the scene shortly.
Officers arrived at the scene and found at least one spent shell casing and blood on the bus, but no shooting victim, Pace said. Investigators later discovered the 17-year-old had been taken to Temple University Hospital where he is said to be in critical condition, according to police.
CBS Philadelphia
Through their preliminary investigation, police learned those involved in the SEPTA shooting may have fled in a silver-colored Kia.
Authorities then found a car matching the description of the Kia speeding in the area and a pursuit began, Pace said. Police got help from a PPD helicopter as they followed the Kia, which ended up crashing at 5th and Greenwood streets in East Mount Airy. Pace said the Kia crashed into a parked car.
The driver of the crashed car ran away but police were still able to take them into custody, Pace said.
Investigators believe there was a second person involved in the shooting who ran from the car before it crashed. Police said they believe this person escaped near Allegheny Avenue and 4th Street, leaving a coat behind.
According to Pace, police also found a gun and a group of spent shell casings believed to be involved in the shooting in the same area.
“It’s very possible that there may have been a shooting inside the bus and also shots fired from outside of the bus toward the bus,” Pace said, “We’re still trying to piece all that together at this time.”
This is an active investigation and police are reviewing surveillance footage from the SEPTA bus.