Gunmen kidnapped more than 280 students during an attack on a school in northwestern Nigeria, a teacher and a resident said, with authorities giving no figures.
Mass kidnappings for ransom are a major problem and affect the entire country, one of the most populous in Africa.
Local authorities in Kaduna State confirmed the kidnapping from the Kuriga school on Thursday, but did not specify the number of kidnapped students, which was currently being assessed.
According to Sani Abdullahi, one of the teachers at GSS Kuriga School in Chikun district, the staff managed to escape with many students as the gunmen fired into the air.
“We are trying to determine the real number of children kidnapped
,” he told local officials Thursday evening.
“At Kuriga secondary school, 187 children are missing, while at primary school, 125 children were missing, but 25 returned
,” he detailed.
“More than 280 children were kidnapped.
We first thought there were 200, but after a careful count, we discovered that the kidnapped children are a little more than 280
,” Muhammad Adam, a resident, told AFP.
Mass attacks and kidnappings
For their part, local officials and the police have not provided any figures at this stage.
“At the moment, we do not know the number of children or students who have been kidnapped
,” Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani told reporters on site.
In recent years, criminal gangs have repeatedly attacked schools, mainly in rural areas of Nigeria's northwestern states.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu came to power in 2023 promising to tackle insecurity, fueled by jihadist groups, bandits in the northeast and surging intercommunal violence in central states.
More than 100 women have been reported missing in northeastern Nigeria after a mass kidnapping attributed to jihadists, official sources announced Thursday.