Dozens of schoolboys and staff were abducted by gunmen in northwestern Nigeria early Wednesday, the latest in a series of high school kidnappings that have ravaged the northern part of Africa’s most populous country.
The gunmen stormed Government Science College in Niger’s Kagara district at about 2am and raided school security, killing one student before ordering students and staff to leave their residences and gather, officials said. “The situation is very serious … About 27 students, 3 staff members and 12 members of their family have been abducted,” said Abubakar Sani Bello, the governor of the state of Nigeria. Unfortunately, one student was shot dead. ”
A photo shared by the governor’s security officers showed the body of a student on the back of a pickup truck covered in leaves. There was no immediate claim to responsibility.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who has been criticized for reacting slowly to previous kidnappings, has sent the country’s military chiefs to coordinate a rescue operation, his spokesman said.
Shehu Sani, a former senator who studied in Kagara as a child, said it was unclear how many people were missing, but that about 1,000 students attended the school.