Armed assailants have raided a secondary school in the northwest region of Nigeria, abducting 25 schoolgirls and injuring a staff member, as reported by the police.
The abduction occurred at the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga, Kebbi state, around 4:00 am local time on Monday, according to official sources.
The attackers, equipped with advanced weaponry, clashed with on-duty police officers in a firefight before breaching the school’s perimeter and seizing twenty-five students from their dormitory, leading them to an undisclosed location, according to a police briefing.
During the assault, the school’s deputy head was fatally shot, and a security guard sustained gunshot wounds, as outlined in a United Nations report.
Law enforcement authorities have mobilized tactical units, the military, and local vigilantes to sweep through the bandits’ escape routes and nearby forests in pursuit of the abducted girls and the criminals, known locally as bandits.
Violent incidents have plagued Nigeria since the rise of the Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast in 2009, with school abductions remaining a prevalent challenge in the northern regions.
The internationally publicized abduction of 276 schoolgirls from Chibok in Borno state in 2014 sparked global outcry and led to the widespread “#BringBackOurGirls” social media campaign, with nearly 100 girls still missing as of last year.
In a separate incident, over 100 students and staff members were kidnapped from a government college in Kebbi state in June 2021, with students being released over a two-year period following ransom payments by parents. Some victims were coerced into marriage, while others returned with infants.
Just a month later, gunmen abducted 140 pupils from Bethel Baptist School in Kaduna state, northwest Nigeria. The abductees were released gradually as ransom demands were met in the ensuing months.
A report released by Save the Children charity last year revealed that more than 1,680 students had been abducted from Nigerian schools between early 2014 and the close of 2022.
