Gunmen abduct students from school in Nigeria’s Borno

Armed men abducted an unspecified number of students from a primary and junior secondary school in Nigeria’s northeastern state of Borno on Friday, residents said.

The gunmen stormed Mussa Primary and Junior Secondary School in Askira-Uba Local Government Area around 9 am while classes were in session, said Ubaidallah Hasaan, who lives near the school.

A teacher at the school told Reuters that the attackers arrived on motorcycles. The teacher added that some students escaped to the bushes, but many were taken.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

In 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped more than 270 girls from a school in Chibok, also in Borno state. That incident drew global condemnation. The state has not witnessed a similar school kidnapping since then.

The police and military have not yet issued official statements on the abduction.

Local lawmaker Midala Usman Balami called the attack “heartbreaking” and urged authorities to act quickly.

Mass kidnappings by armed groups have become a major security challenge in Nigeria in recent years, with schools often targeted. However, such attacks are less frequent in the northeast than in the northwest.

SOURCE: Reuters