More than 280 Nigerian school pupils have been abducted in the town of Kuriga, located in the north-western region, according to officials.
The incident unfolded around 08:30 (07:30 GMT) as the students gathered in the assembly ground.
A witness described how dozens of gunmen on motorcycles stormed the school premises, seizing the children aged between eight and 15, along with a teacher.
As reported, “The students, between the ages of eight and 15, were taken away, along with a teacher,” highlighting the swift and brazen nature of the attack.
Kidnap gangs, often referred to as bandits, have been active in the region, particularly in the northwest, where they have targeted hundreds of individuals in recent years.
While there had been a decline in mass child abductions over the past year, this incident marks a concerning resurgence in such attacks.
Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna state, which encompasses Kuriga, confirmed the abduction, stating that 187 students from the Government Secondary School and 125 from the local primary school were missing, with 25 having returned since.
The governor’s statement underscores the scale of the abduction.
According to an eyewitness, one pupil sustained gunshot wounds during the abduction and was undergoing medical treatment at Birnin Gwari Hospital.
A teacher who managed to escape recounted how residents attempted to intervene but were met with resistance from the gunmen, resulting in one casualty.
The widespread impact of the abduction is evident, with nearly every family in the community believed to have a child among the victims. In response, the armed forces have initiated an operation to locate and rescue the abducted children.
The incident follows a recent attack in which bandits killed a school principal in the same area and abducted his wife, indicating a pattern of escalating violence in the region.
Although separate, the Kuriga abduction coincides with the reported kidnapping of women and children by the Boko Haram Islamist group in north-eastern Nigeria while they were gathering firewood.
However, authorities do not believe the two incidents to be linked.
The criminal gangs responsible for kidnappings in north-western Nigeria operate independently from militant groups like Boko Haram in the north-east, though occasional collaboration between them has been reported.
The area where Thursday’s attack occurred is reportedly under the control of Ansaru, a breakaway faction of Boko Haram notorious for the 2014 abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls from Chibok.
Efforts to address Nigeria’s rampant kidnapping problem include a controversial law passed in 2022 that criminalizes ransom payments, punishable by a minimum 15-year jail term.
However, enforcement has been challenging, with no arrests made under the legislation thus far.
Earlier this year, a family whose daughters were kidnapped in Abuja disputed police claims of a successful rescue, alleging that they were compelled to pay ransom due to the lack of viable alternatives.
This highlights the complex and often desperate realities faced by victims and their families in navigating the aftermath of abductions.
