The girls were kidnapped on Friday by gunmen who raided their state school in the northwestern state of Zamfara in Nigeria, police said. A spokesman for the area’s regional governor, Bello Matawalle, said on Tuesday that all 279 girls had been safely returned and accounted for.
But violence erupted when the schoolgirls were reunited with their parents in Jangebe on Wednesday, eyewitnesses told CNN.
Witnesses said that parents who wanted to take their children home became impatient with government officials making speeches. The officials also told the parents that they intended to keep the girls at school overnight before they were sent home, observers said.
Video obtained by journalists on the ground showed the family members shouting and storming into the hallway where the girls and officials were. Young people who came in with the adults began throwing stones at government officials, parents said. Soldiers then opened fire, sparking even more chaos with parents scrambling to grab their daughters.
A parent, Safiyanu Jangebe, told CNN, “We got tired of waiting. The government officials were talking and talking while we were waiting to take our children in. They started saying they were meeting the girls tomorrow (Thursday). “We couldn’t handle that… some angry youths started throwing stones at the soldiers. They started shooting and shot three children. One is dead. Why does the government treat us without human feelings?”
Abubakar Shittu’s son was one of the teenagers shot. Video provided to CNN by journalists at the hospital showed the boy lying in a bed with a bloodied leg.
“After they kidnapped our daughters, look how soldiers came and shot our children. Which of these pains are we going to deal with now? [with]Abubakar said in the video, standing over his unconscious son, who is lying on a hospital bed.
Zamfara Police Commissioner Abutu Yaro denied that his men had shot at parents and children, calling the reports “fake news.”
“I think the parents carried their children in haste because they think they come from very distant villages, that’s what happened,” he said. “As for the shooting, that’s a fake report, I don’t have that report on my table.”
Immediately after the incident, the local government imposed a curfew on Jangebe, it said in a statement Wednesday. “This is to prevent further peace breaking,” the statement read, which made no reference to the shooting.
Ransom kidnappings are widespread in parts of Nigeria and pose a major security challenge. State governors regularly pay ransom to ensure the safety of victims, but rarely admit to doing so.
CNN’s Stephanie Busari contributed to the reporting.