Nigeria: 29 Killed, Mostly Children, as Boat Capsizes

29 people, including children, died as a boat capsized late on Tuesday in northwest Nigeria's Kano state.

A rescue agency spokesman revealed that an overloaded boat carrying over 50 passengers, mostly children aged 8 to 15, capsized in northwest Nigeria.

"We have recovered 29 bodies ... and rescued seven passengers. The search for the remaining bodies is ongoing," Saminu Abdullahi, spokesman for Kano state's fire service, told AFP Wednesday.

In October, gunmen attacked a market and torched cars in Nigeria’s Sokoto state, killing at least 20 people.

Northwestern Nigeria has since last December witnessed a wave of kidnappings of school children and villagers for ransoms by bandits, disrupting everyday life for millions of citizens.

A Sokoto police spokesperson confirmed the attack but could not immediately say how many people had been killed.

Idriss Gobir, special advisor to the Sokoto police affairs minister, said the armed bandits rode on motorcycles and shot sporadically, killing several people.

“The bandits in large numbers killed at least 20 people that we have seen and counted and set nine vehicles on fire,” he told Reuters by telephone.

Moreover, Hussain Boza, a local member of parliament in Sokoto, blamed the deadly attack on a lack of adequate security in the state.