Armed Attackers Raid School in Nigeria, Abduct Several Students
While no organization has immediately claimed responsibility, the attack mirrors tactics commonly associated with the notorious Boko Haram insurgents.
Armed men launched a brazen attack on a school in Nigeria’s troubled Borno state on Friday, seizing an unspecified number of students in what marks the latest in a string of abductions haunting the region.
The assault took place at Mussa Primary and Junior Secondary School, located in Askira-Uba Local Government Area. According to resident Ubaidallah Hasaan, the gunmen struck at around 9 a.m. (0800 GMT) while classes were underway, spiriting away several students.
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A teacher from the school recounted to Reuters that the attackers arrived on motorcycles, a detail that intensified the rapidity and surprise of their strike. “Although some managed to flee into the bushes, numerous students were abducted,” the teacher explained.
While no organization has immediately claimed responsibility, the attack mirrors tactics commonly associated with the notorious Boko Haram insurgents.
In 2014, the abduction of over 270 girls in Chibok by Boko Haram drew international outrage. Since then, Borno state had not seen a similar school kidnapping until now.
Efforts to obtain comments from Nigeria’s police and military have so far been unsuccessful.
Mussa, positioned near the expansive Sambisa Forest, is in a region long plagued by the Islamist insurgency that has gripped northeast Nigeria for over a decade.
Reacting to the incident, local legislator Midala Usman Balami described the kidnapping as “heartbreaking” and urged the government to respond decisively and swiftly.
Despite sustained military campaigns, Borno and adjacent states remain vulnerable, with schools and communities frequently targeted, highlighting persistent security gaps in rural areas.
Mass abductions have increasingly challenged Nigeria’s security framework, with schools often targeted. Although northeastern Nigeria experiences fewer such incidents compared to the northwest, they continue to provoke serious concern.
In a separate incident also on Friday, armed assailants kidnapped students from Baptist Nursery and Primary School in Oyo, a state in the southwest. In response, authorities have closed schools in the region and launched a search operation to track down those responsible.
