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Nigeria: Islamic extremists abduct 140 students from Baptist school; “Please pray”

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Islamic extremists kidnapped 140 students from the Bethel Baptist High School in Nigeria’s Kaduna state on Monday, International Christian Concern reports. Islamic terrorists are estimated to have abducted 1000 students from schools across Nigeria since the end of last year.

The Bethel school was founded by the Bethel Baptist Church in Kaduna, a member church of the Nigerian Baptist Convention (NBC), Morning Star News reports. The 140 students were kidnapped at gunpoint by terrorists who breached the school walls at around 2 am Monday. In a statement, Mustapha Kumbe, father of one of the abducted students, said: “We call on the international community, we call on every person that is involved or that is responsible in any way that can eliminate our problems, to come to our aid. We do not have help anymore. Please, they should come to our aid,”

Deeply entrenched in Nigeria, the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram has been kidnapping school children for ransom since 2014, when the group abducted 276 girls from a school in Chibok. According to ICC, Boko Haram may have been responsible for the latest mass abduction.

Nevertheless, local resident Christopher Kantoma told Morning Star News about the abduction in a text message, writing: “It is another sad moment as Fulani bandits/gunmen attacked Bethel Baptist High School, Kaduna, today. They kidnapped all the students of the boarding school, but only 15 of them escaped from their captors.” Extremist Fulani herdsmen have been terrorizing and murdering Christians in Nigeria with impunity for many years now. Using methods similar to Boko Haram, Fulani extremists have become the fourth deadliest terror group in the world.

ICC has issued a request for prayer: “Please pray for the Lord to comfort grieving families and strengthen their faith during this difficult time. Please also pray for the safe return of all who have been kidnapped, and for their captors, that their hearts would be softened, and that they will experience the love of Christ that leads to true repentance and salvation.”