West Africa’s terrorist group, Boko Haram, says its members are behind the recent attack on a boarding school in Katsina, north-western Nigeria.
News Central reported the group’s raid on Friday, last week at the Government Science Secondary School, Kankara and kidnap of some students. While the Nigerian government claimed only 10 boys are still in captivity, Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina said over 300 boys were abducted.
Masari, who in the wake of the kidnapped ordered the indefinite closure of all boarding schools in the state, also added that the bandits had contacted the state government.
Claiming the attack on Monday, Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, said in a four-minute audio message that his group carried out the attack “because Western education is against the tenets of Islam”.
“I am Abubakar Shekau and our brothers are behind the kidnapping in Katsina,” said the leader of the group behind the 2014 abduction of hundreds of schoolgirls in Chibok. What happened in Katsina was done to promote Islam and discourage un-Islamic practices as Western education is not the type of education permitted by Allah and his holy Prophet.”
Shekau did not give details about the attack, the number of schoolboys abducted or confirm reports of negotiations with the government.