Armed militants stormed a boarding school in northwestern Nigeria before dawn on Monday, abducting 25 female students and killing at least one staff member in the latest attack targeting educational institutions in the region.
Dawn Raid on Boarding School
The attack occurred around 4 a.m. at the school located in Maga, within Kebbi state's Danko-Wasagu area. According to police spokesperson Nafi'u Abubakar Kotarkoshi, the assailants carried sophisticated weapons and exchanged fire with security guards before taking the schoolgirls from their dormitories.
Kotarkoshi confirmed that one person was killed and another injured during the violent incident. However, local resident Abdulkarim Abdullahi Maga, whose daughter and granddaughter were among those abducted, reported a higher death toll.
"We were told that the attackers entered the school with many motorcycles. They first went straight to the teacher's house and killed him before killing the guard," Maga stated. Police have not yet confirmed the second fatality.
Search Operations Underway
Nigerian authorities have launched a comprehensive search and rescue mission to locate the missing students and apprehend the perpetrators. "A combined team is currently combing suspected escape routes and surrounding forests in a coordinated search and rescue operation," Kotarkoshi announced.
No group has immediately claimed responsibility for the abduction, and the motivation behind the attack remains unclear. This pattern of targeting school children has become increasingly common in northern Nigeria since the infamous 2014 Chibok abduction, where Boko Haram kidnapped 276 students from Borno state.
Nigeria's Security Crisis Deepens
Nigeria continues to face complex security challenges, particularly from armed bandit groups that specialize in kidnapping for ransom. These criminal organizations operate separately from militant groups like Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province, focusing primarily on financial gain rather than religious motivations.
Since the Chibok abductions began what many describe as a new era of fear, at least 1,500 students have been kidnapped across Nigeria. Armed groups have discovered that abductions provide a lucrative funding source for other criminal activities while enabling them to maintain control in the nation's mineral-rich but poorly policed northern regions.
In a recent similar incident from March 2024, more than 130 schoolchildren were rescued after spending over two weeks in captivity in Kaduna state. While school raids have decreased in recent years due to improved security measures, including extended school closures in high-risk areas, Monday's attack demonstrates the persistent vulnerability of educational institutions.
The ongoing crisis highlights the critical need for enhanced security presence and protection strategies for schools throughout Nigeria's northern regions, where communities continue to live under the constant threat of violence and abduction.
