Gunshots, then chaos before Nigeria students' kidnapping
A general view of Kuriga school, where more than 250 pupils kidnapped by gunmen. The Kaduna state attack was the second mass kidnapping in a week in Africa's most populous state, where heavily armed criminal gangs on motorbikes target victims in villages and schools and along highways in the hunt for ransom payments. Some villagers tried to fight, others just stood and watched helplessly.
Nigeria's security forces on Sunday were still hunting for Kuriga school victims in forests that spread across Kaduna and other states. Some, including Usman, hid in nearby homes, but the attackers pursued them and dragged them out, hitting them with whips. He managed to escape by diving into dense vegetation and walked for hours before arriving at a village close to Kuriga where he slept the night before reaching home the next morning.