Gunmen storm Nigerian school, kidnap ‘many’ students

Unidentified gunmen attacked a secondary school in Nigeria’s Niger state overnight and abducted many students, the state governor’s spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

According to Reuters, the assailants stormed the Government Science college in the Kagara district at around 2 am, overwhelming the school’s security detail, according to local residents.

The spokeswoman said many students had been abducted but did not specify how many.

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the attack.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday condemned the raid, and dispatched security chiefs to coordinate operations to rescue the abducted students, his spokesman said.

According to Reuters, militant Islamic group Boko Haram and a branch of ISIS are active in northern Nigeria, but kidnappings by other armed groups – mostly for ransom – are also common.

The latest attack came two months after gunmen stormed a secondary school in northwestern Katsina state and kidnapped nearly 350 boys, who were subsequently rescued by security forces.

About 100 of more than 270 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram from the town of Chibok in 2014 are still missing.