Parents of abducted Nigeria students plead for rescue

Papiri, Nigeria: Parents of dozens of children kidnapped last week from a Catholic school in Nigeria are desperate for their release, with one father...

Papiri, Nigeria: Parents of dozens of children kidnapped last week from a Catholic school in Nigeria are desperate for their release, with one father crying out that his son is so young he has not yet learned to speak.

Armed gangs seized more than 300 children from a Catholic school in Nigeria's central-western Niger state, in a resurgence of the mass kidnappings that have long harrowed Africa's most populous country.

The same week, 25 schoolgirls were taken from another school, and 38 worshippers were seized from a church in the east of the country.

At least 50 taken from the Catholic school, St Mary's, managed to escape, but more than 265 children and teachers are still being held.

"My son is a small boy. He doesn't even know how to talk," Michael Ibrahim said as parents of those still in captivity anxiously awaited their children's safe release.