Pope 'deeply saddened' as 303 children abducted from Nigerian school, with 50 reported to have escaped captors
Pope Leo issued the "heartfelt appeal" after one of the worst mass kidnappings in Nigerian history took place on Friday
Pope Leo has pleaded for the immediate release of the 303 children abducted from a Catholic school in Nigeria this week, after 50 of those taken were reunited with their families on Sunday.
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The Pope issued the "heartfelt appeal" after one of the worst mass kidnappings in Nigerian history took place on Friday.
Gunmen reportedly stormed St Mary's School in the northwest of Nigeria at around 2am local time and took 303 students and 12 teachers who were staying on site.
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The escapees, aged between 10 and 18, managed to return home individually between Friday and Saturday, according to the Most Reverend Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, the proprietor of the school.
But the remaining schoolchildren and teachers are still being held captive, he said.
It is not entirely clear where children are being held or how those who escaped managed to return.
Pope Leo said he was "deeply saddened" to learn of the kidnappings in Nigeria whilst hosting Mass in St Peter's Square.
"I feel great pain, especially for the many young men and women who have been abducted and for their anguished families," he said.
"I make a heartfelt appeal for the immediate release of the hostages and urge the competent authorities to take appropriate and timely decisions to ensure their release.
"Let us pray for these brothers and sisters of ours and that churches and schools may always and everywhere remain places of safety and hope."
The kidnapping comes amid a surge of attacks by armed groups across the country - including one on Monday, where 25 schoolgirls were taken and the vice-principal was killed.
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.
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.”
Nigeria has been plagued by school kidnappings for some time, with this latest event being third documented mass school abduction in Niger in the last decade.
Armed gangs often see schools as "strategic" targets to attract more attention, with only 37 per cent of schools across 10 of the conflict-hit states having early warning systems in place to detect threats.