Teacher Killed and Two Dozen Pupils Seized in Gunbattle at Nigerian School
Armed assailants have killed a teacher and kidnapped no fewer than 25 pupils in an assault against a female high school in north-western Nigeria, authorities have confirmed.
The criminal group invaded the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in the Maga locality within Kebbi State at roughly 4 in the morning local time on the start of the week, authorities reported.
The assailants "confronted officers on duty in a gun duel" before scaling the perimeter fence and taking the pupils captive from their dormitory, according to a statement.
A school employee was fatally shot while defending the students. A second sustained gunshot wounds and is now undergoing medical care.
Observers recounted a large group of attackers, identified in the area as outlaw groups, who arrived firing sporadically to cause panic.
Local residents informed journalists that the attackers afterwards forced a contingent of young women into adjacent wilderness.
The authorities announced they had sent "extra specialized police forces, in coordination with armed forces and local protection units" to the area.
A coordinated search and rescue operation is currently ongoing in nearby woodlands and potential getaway paths.
In the past few years, educational institutions in Nigeria's north have become frequent targets for militant organizations, who routinely perform seizures to demand financial compensation or leverage deals with the government.
The attack in Kebbi State underscores the continuing safety emergency plaguing the region, causing relatives in Maga in a state of fearful exhaustion as they expect and desire their young ones' unharmed reappearance.
Security crisis in the northern regions of Nigeria has worsened considerably in the past few months, with educational institutions suffering the most of the violence.
Essential Information
- Gun-wielding individuals stormed a girls' school in Nigeria's northwest
- An instructor was fatally shot while defending pupils
- No fewer than 25 girl pupils were abducted from their hostel
- Law enforcement have initiated a recovery mission in surrounding areas
- Learning center raids have grown more frequent in Nigeria's northern regions