KADUNA, 15 March, 2021 (TON): As dozens of college students abducted and media ran videos showing hostages pleading for help, the Nigerian security forces stepped up efforts to get to the victims from Saturday.

Gunmen abducted 39 students from their hostels in northwestern Kaduna state late Thursday, the latest in a series of such attacks.

The military managed to rescue 180 others after a fierce battle at the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation in Mando at the outskirts of the state capital, Kaduna city.

The police spokesman Mohammadu Jalinge said, "A combined team of police, army, and other security forces are in a frantic search for the kidnapped students." 

"We are combing the surrounding forests and bushes with a view to freeing the hostages. Very soon, it will be over for the bandits," he added.

"An operation for the students' rescue is underway by security personnel from the army, air force, police, and DSS (secret police)," state commissioner for internal security Samuel Aruwan said.

Heavily armed gangs in the northwest and central Nigeria have stepped up attacks in recent years, kidnapping for ransom, raping, and pillaging, however, President Muhammadu Buhari warned the attackers (Bandits) to halt targeting the school and college students.

"Our military may be efficient and well-armed but it needs good efforts for the nation's defense, and the local population must rise to this challenge of the moment," he said.

Mass kidnappings in the northwest are complicating the security challenges facing President Muhammadu Buhari's security forces, which are also battling a more than decade-long insurgency in the northeast.