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Government spokesman Bayo Onanuga did not specify the total
number of students rescued, but authorities said at the time of
the abductions on May 15 that more than 40 people had been
abducted. One of the teachers abducted alongside the students
was killed shortly afterward.
Eight militants were arrested as part of the operation, while an
unspecified number of the militants were killed, Onanuga said.
The abductions in a southern state had represented an escalation
of the country’s security crisis because most such abductions
previously had taken place in the north.
“This successful military operation has ended the siege and
standoff of over 50 days and has brought relief to the entire
nation and the affected families in particular," Nigerian
President Bola Tinubu said in a statement.
In the same week as the Oyo abduction, dozens of children were
kidnapped in Borno, the epicenter of Nigeria's security crisis.
Abductions at schools are common in Nigeria, where militant
groups target them to put pressure on the government and extract
ransoms.
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