At least twelve children, students of an Islamic school, died this Sunday in an attack by unidentified armed men in northern Nigeria, in the state of Katsina.
The students were celebrating 'Milad', which is a festival commemorating the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, in a long procession through the village of Rugar Kusawa. That's when the men, riding motorcycles, opened fire on them.
"Twelve of the children were killed, while more than fifteen others were injured in the attack and taken to hospital," explained Abubakar Gambo, head of the affected town.
Aminu Umaru, a resident of the village and a resident of the area, claims that "the attackers emerged from the forest and started shooting at everyone during the procession."
"At around 10:30 p.m., a large number of suspected armed bandits attacked the Milad procession wielding dangerous weapons such as AK-47 rifles and firing at will," said police officer Abubakar Sodiq Aliyu. "After receiving the warning, the agents were immediately mobilized and went into action, so that they managed to repel the attack," the police officer concluded.
Some states in Nigeria - especially in the center and northwest of the country - suffer incessant attacks by "bandits", a term used in the country to name criminal gangs that commit mass assaults and kidnappings to demand large ransoms. The attacks are repeated despite repeated promises to end the violence by the Nigerian Government, which has reinforced the deployment of security forces.
Added to this insecurity is that caused since 2009 by the activity of the jihadist group Boko Haram in the northeast of the country and, as of 2016, also by its split, the Islamic State in the West Africa Province.
