Boys escaped through forest after gunmen abducted their friends at Nigeria school

Muhammed Abubakar, a 15-year-old boy who escaped from men who kidnapped hundreds of students from his school, looks on in Kankara, in northwestern Katsina state, Nigeria December 14, 2020. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

KANKARA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Usama Aminu was one of the lucky ones. He managed to escape when gunman abducted more than 300 pupils from his school in northwestern Nigeria.

"When I decided to run they brought a knife to slaughter me but I ran away quickly," he said, sitting on a mat and speaking softly as he described how he had been in bed at the all-boys school in Kankara when he heard gunshots on Friday night.