25 girls have been abducted from a secondary school in Nigeria, police say
ABUJA, Nigeria — Gunmen launched an attack on a high school in northwestern Nigeria in the early hours of Monday, kidnapping 25 schoolgirls and killing at least one staff member, authorities reported, marking the latest incident of student abduction in the region.
No group has claimed responsibility for the abduction of the girls from the boarding school in Kebbi state, and their motives remain unclear.
Nigeria is grappling with a complex security crisis, particularly from groups of armed bandits known for engaging in kidnapping for ransom, with some demands reaching thousands of dollars. These bandits have been behind several high-profile abductions across Nigeria’s northern region, as kidnappings and attacks have become more frequent due to the lack of adequate security presence.
These bandits are distinct from extremist groups like Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province, whose activities are driven by religious ideology.
According to police, the schoolgirls were taken from their dormitories at 4 a.m. on Monday. The school, located in Maga in the Danko-Wasagu area of the state, was the scene of the abduction, as confirmed by police spokesperson Nafi’u Abubakar Kotarkoshi.
The attackers were armed with sophisticated weapons and engaged in a shootout with security guards before seizing the girls, Kotarkoshi stated.
A joint team is currently scouring suspected escape routes and surrounding forests in a coordinated effort to locate and rescue the abducted students, as well as apprehend the perpetrators, the spokesperson added.
While police mentioned one fatality and one injury, a resident who had family members taken in the raid believes that the death toll may be two.
“We were informed that the assailants rode into the school on numerous motorcycles. They first targeted the teacher’s residence, where they killed him, before proceeding to eliminate the guard,” recounted Abdulkarim Abdullahi Maga.
Police did not respond to inquiries from The Associated Press regarding the reported second fatality.
Since 2014, armed groups have been targeting schoolchildren in the region, starting with the abduction of 276 students by Boko Haram from Chibok in Borno state. This incident marked the beginning of a period of heightened fear, with many individuals still in captivity.
Since the Chibok abductions, over 1,500 students have been kidnapped, as armed groups view abductions as a profitable way to finance their activities and exert control over villages in the country’s resource-rich but under-policed region. In a recent incident in March 2024, more than 130 schoolchildren were rescued after being held captive for over two weeks in Kaduna state.
Nevertheless, school raids have decreased in recent years as state authorities have implemented security measures in vulnerable areas, including the temporary closure of schools.
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Contributions to this report were made by freelance journalist Mohammed Ibrahim in Kaduna, Nigeria.
