Armed attackers in Nigeria kidnap 25 girls from boarding school

Gunmen kidnapped 25 girls from a boarding school in Nigeria’s Kebbi State and killed at least one staffer, authorities said Monday.

The schoolgirls were taken around 4 a.m., and no group immediately claimed responsibility for the incident.

Police spokesperson Nafi’u Abubakar Kotarkoshi told The Associated Press the gunmen had “sophisticated weapons” and exchanged fire with guards before abducting the girls.

“A combined team is currently combing suspected escape routes and surrounding forests in a coordinated search and rescue operation aimed at recovering the abducted students and arresting the perpetrators,” he said, adding that one person was killed and another was injured.

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“Our security agencies are treating this as a kidnapping carried out by organized criminal groups that operate for profit. Whether they have any ideological ties is still under investigation, and we do not want to fuel speculation while the facts are being verified,” Nigerian Information Minister Mohamed Idris told Fox News Digital.

“This is not about religion Muslim or Christian. These criminals attack anyone they believe is vulnerable. Our priority is the protection of all Nigerian children, and we remain fully committed to dismantling these networks and holding every perpetrator accountable.”

Abdulkarim Abdullahi Maga, a resident who said his daughter and granddaughter were abducted in the raid, told the AP that the attackers entered the school with motorcycles.

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“They first went straight to the teacher’s house and killed him before killing the guard,” said Maga.

Idris told Fox News Digital that the government is working to ensure the girls are safely returned home and the perpetrators are brought to justice.

“The Federal Government expresses deep concern and solidarity with the families of the female students abducted from Government Girls Secondary School, Maga, in Danko/Wasagu Local Government Area of Kebbi State. We share in their pain and are firmly committed to bringing the girls home safely,” he said. 

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“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has reiterated that the protection of every Nigerian especially schoolchildren remains a solemn responsibility of the State. The government condemns the reprehensible attack on innocent students and the killing of school officials who were carrying out their noble duty.”

The latest abductions come amid a string of mass kidnappings in northern Nigeria in recent years.

In 2024, 280 students were abducted from a school in Kaduna State and at least 200 others, mostly internally displaced women and children, were abducted in Borno State while reportedly searching for firewood, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.

More than 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped from a Chibok secondary school in 2014 by Boko Haram militants, sparking international outrage and a #BringBackOurGirls campaign.

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