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Wednesday, 17 February 2021 (YJC)_ Dozens of Nigerian students abducted by armed ‘bandits’.
Armed men have kidnapped at least 27 children from a secondary school in central Nigeria’s Niger state, according to officials.
Abdullberqy Ebbo, director general, strategic operation of Niger state in a tweet said “one student was shot by the bandits and lost his life”.
He added that three staff of the school and 12 members of their families were also among the kidnapped.
Earlier on Wednesday, Ibrahim Matane, Niger State government secretary, told BBC News Pidgin that armed men had attacked the Government Science College in Kagara, about 260km (160 miles) northwest of the Nigerian capital Abuja, at approximately 3am (02:00 GMT).
The attackers, dressed in military uniforms and masks, stormed the school hostels to take away children, local media reported, adding that some of the children escaped during the incident.
Government Science College has a student body of about a thousand.
School authorities have begun a headcount to determine the exact number of missing children.
President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned “the cowardly attack on innocent school children.”
“The President has directed the Armed Forces and Police, to ensure immediate and safe return of all the captives,” Garba Shehu, president’s spokesman said in a statement on Wednesday.
No group has claimed responsibility.
The incident comes hours after bandits released a video of more than 20 people abducted from a commercial bus near Zungeru town in Niger state.
It raises growing concerns about security and violence in the country’s north.
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