{"id":97715,"date":"2020-12-18T07:00:16","date_gmt":"2020-12-18T12:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=97715"},"modified":"2020-12-18T06:25:05","modified_gmt":"2020-12-18T11:25:05","slug":"wsj-nigerian-boys-taken-in-kidnapping-claimed-by-boko-haram-are-freed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=97715","title":{"rendered":"(WSJ) Nigerian Boys Taken in Kidnapping Claimed by Boko Haram Are Freed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>More than 300 schoolboys <a class=\"icon none\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/boko-haram-again-kidnaps-hundreds-of-nigerian-students-11608044390?mod=article_inline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">kidnapped by gunmen<\/a> from their boarding school in northwest Nigeria last week were handed over to security agencies late Thursday, Nigeria\u2019s government said, prompting outpourings of relief and joy across Africa\u2019s most populous nation after <a class=\"icon none\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/nigeria-horrified-overabducted-schoolboys-as-parents-anxiously-wait-11608147809?mod=article_inline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">fears they would become long-term hostages<\/a> of jihadist militants.<\/p>\n<p>Shortly after 8 p.m. on Thursday, Aminu Bello Masari, the governor of Katsina state, announced in a televised interview that 344 of the boys had been handed over in the forest of neighboring Zamfara state and would be immediately driven to Katsina for medical treatment.<\/p>\n<div class=\"paywall\">\n<p>The release comes six days after the students were seized from their dormitories at the Kankara Government Science Secondary School in Katsina and driven into the nearby forest, marking one of the largest mass school kidnappings in history. President Muhammadu Buhari praised the military and security agencies in a statement that offered prayers for the full recovery of the victims. They \u201cendured significant hardships in the course of their ordeal,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n<p>Local newspaper The Katsina Post tweeted images of dozens of schoolboys jammed onto the back of trucks, some looking dazed, but others sporting wide smiles for the camera as they headed toward home. Government officials said the boys would be given new clothes before an audience with the president on Friday.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/hundreds-of-nigerian-boys-kidnapped-by-boko-haram-handed-over-governor-says-11608238209\">Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Good news Kidnapped Nigerian Boys Are Freed <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/3MegJMgMsW\">https:\/\/t.co\/3MegJMgMsW<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; paolo ignazio marong (@paoloigna1) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/paoloigna1\/status\/1339729138991718403?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 18, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More than 300 schoolboys kidnapped by gunmen from their boarding school in northwest Nigeria last week were handed over to security agencies late Thursday, Nigeria\u2019s government said, prompting outpourings of relief and joy across Africa\u2019s most populous nation after fears<span class=\"ellipsis\">&hellip;<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=97715\">Read more &#8250;<\/a><\/div>\n<p><!-- end of .read-more --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":794,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[168,106,554,151,148],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ethics-moral-theology","category-military-armed-forces","category-nigeria-africa","category-politics-in-general","category-terrorism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/794"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=97715"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97719,"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97715\/revisions\/97719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=97715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=97715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=97715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}