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Alex Berry with Reuters, AFP, AP | Alex Berry Writer and Editor in DW’s online newsroom.
Police and military forces have been deployed to search for the missing students. A series of similar attacks has put Nigeria’s security in the spotlight.
A group of armed men kidnapped students from a Catholic school in central Nigeria, a government official confirmed on Friday.
Local police said the attack happened in the early hours of Friday morning, just days after a similar attack on a girls’ school in another part of the country.
What do we know about the Nigeria school kidnapping?
“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,” Abubakar Usman, the state government secretary, said in a statement.
Nigerian TV station Arise TV, cited by Reuters, said that 52 students had been abducted from the school in Niger state, but the government official gave no number.
“The exact number of abducted pupils is yet to be confirmed as security agencies continue to assess the situation,” Usman said.
The secretary to the Niger state government said that the school had opened despite intelligence warnings of a heightened threat.
“Regrettably, St. Mary’s School proceeded to reopen and resume academic activities without notifying or seeking clearance from the State Government, thereby exposing pupils and the staff to avoidable risk,” a statement from the secretary read.
How have Nigerian authorities responded to the kidnapping?
Niger state police said they had received a report around 2 a.m. (0100 GMT) that “some armed bandits invaded St. Mary’s Private (Catholic) Secondary School… and abducted a yet to be ascertained number of students from the school’s hostel.”
Tactical police units and military forces had been deployed.
Security forces have been on high alert following a spate of recent attacks and kidnappings.
The police said they were “combing the forests with a view to rescue the abducted students.”
Why is Nigerian security under so much scrutiny?
Friday’s kidnapping comes after an attack on Monday resulted in the abduction of 25 girls from a boarding school in Kebbi state.
The incident forced President Bola Tinubu to cancel foreign trips to deal with the fallout.
A separate attack on a church in western Nigeria on Tuesday was broadcast live. Two people were killed and dozens are believed to have been abducted.
The spotlight on Nigeria’s security situation has been amped up by US President Trump’s threats to carry out military action in Nigeria after he said, without providing evidence, that thousands of Christians had been killed.
Nigeria, which is roughly split between Muslim and Christians, has rejected the accusation of religious persecution.
Edited by: Saim Dušan Inayatullah
Source: dw.com
