0:00 0:00 1x

This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here .

Fifty Nigerian schoolchildren have escaped captivity, but 253 pupils and 12 teachers remain held after abduction from a Catholic school in Niger state.

Pope Leo XIV called for immediate release of remaining hostages.

School kidnappings for ransom have become a persistent crisis in Nigeria, with at least 1,500 students seized since the 2014 Chibok abductions.

ABUJA, Nigeria — Fifty of the 303 schoolchildren abducted from a Catholic school in north-central Nigeria’s Niger state have escaped captivity and are back with their families, the school authority said Sunday, as Pope Leo XIV called for the immediate release of those still missing.

The schoolchildren, between 10 and 18 yea

See Full Page