Second mass school abduction in a week as 315 kidnapped in Nigeria
It is believed that 303 students and 12 teachers have been taken from on St Mary's School in Papiri, Niger state
One of the worst mass abductions in Nigerian history has taken place at a Catholic school in Niger state, with 300 children and staff believed to have been kidnapped by gunmen.
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The Christian Association of Nigeria said 303 students and 12 teachers were taken from on St Mary's School in Papiri, Niger state - substantially more than it first estimated.
The kidnapping comes amid a surge of attacks by armed groups across the country - including a kidnapping on Monday, where 25 schoolgirls were taken and the vice-principal was killed.
Local police said armed men stormed the school at around 02:00 local time (01:00 GMT) on Friday morning, abducting over 300 students who were staying there.
Police said that security agencies were now "combing the forests" in an attempt to locate and rescue the abducted students.
Following the attack, all schools in Niger state were ordered to close on Saturday.
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It was initially reported that 215 pupils had been taken, but the figure has since been revised following a "verification exercise" by the school. It is believed that the new estimation is approximately half of the student population.
Niger is the biggest of the country’s 36 states.
Dominic Adamu, whose daughters attend the school but were not taken, said: "Everybody is weak... it took everybody by surprise."
Abubakar Usman, the state government secretary, said in a statement: “The Niger state government has received with deep sadness the disturbing news of the kidnapping of pupils from St Mary’s School in Agwara local government area.”
This latest kidnapping is the third documented mass school abduction in the state in the last decade.
Authorities in Niger state said the school had disregarded an order to close all boarding facilities following intelligence warnings of a heightened risk of attacks.
They said in a statement the move exposed pupils and staff to "avoidable risk".
The school has not commented on that claim.