Gunmen have kidnapped more than 280 pupils during a raid on a school in northwest Nigeria, a teacher and a resident said, in one of the country's largest mass abductions.
Mass kidnappings for ransom are common in Africa's most populous country, where criminal gangs have targeted schools and colleges, especially in the northwest, though such attacks have abated recently.
Local government officials in Kaduna State confirmed the kidnapping attack on Kuriga school yesterday, but gave no numbers as they said they were still working out how many children had been abducted.
Sani Abdullahi, one of the teachers at the GSS Kuriga school in the Chikun district, said last night that staff managed to escape with many students when the gunmen were firing in the air.
"We then began working to determine the actual figure of those kidnapped," he told local officials visiting the school.
"In GSS Kuriga, 187 children are missing while in the primary school, 125 children were missing but 25 returned."
