Gunmen have kidnapped more than 300 children from a school in Nigeria – a figure much larger than initially estimated.
Beds were emptied and belongings strewn across the classroom floors after 303 school children and 12 teachers were taken during an attack on St Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, Niger.
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) initially estimated 215 children were taken on Friday, but that figure increased following a ‘verification exercise and a final census’.
Around 88 other pupils aged between 10 and 18 were ‘also captured after they tried to escape’ during the attack, according to chairman Rev Bulus Dauwa Yohanna.
Locals described their shock at the kidnappings, with some criticising the country’s security measures.
Dominic Adamu, whose daughters attend St Mary’s School but were not abducted, told the BBC: ‘Everybody is weak… it took everyone by surprise.’
‘People are complaining about the state of security in our country,’ he added.
One woman said her nieces, aged six and 13, were abducted by gunmen.
‘I just wanted them to come home,’ she said.
Armed men, locally known as ‘bandits’, stormed the school at 2am local time.
The kidnapping marks the second school attack in one week, after 25 children were taken from a school in neighbouring Maga town in Kebbi state on Monday.
It is also one of the worst mass abductions the country has seen since the kidnapping of 276 school girls in Chibok in April 2014 by the Islamic extremist group, Boko Haram.
Africa’s most populous country has been mired in school kidnappings over the last decade, with armed gangs often seeing schools as ‘strategic’ targets.
Yet only 37% of schools across 10 conflict-hit states have early warning systems to detect threats, UNICEF said last year.
All schools across the state of Niger have been closed to protect pupils and staff and prevent further abductions.
‘It is the decision of stakeholders today to close all schools in Niger state. All schools are closed till further notice. So we have declared Christmas holiday for all schools in Niger state,’ Niger Governor Umar Bago said.
Authorities in Niger state claimed St Mary’s Catholic School had reopened ‘without notifying or seeking clearance from the state government’ and accused the facility of ‘exposing pupils and the staff to avoidable risk’.
However, Mr Yohanna, CAN chairman, said the claim was false after the school ‘did not receive any circular’.
‘It must be an afterthought and a way to shift blame,’ he added, and called for families ‘to remain calm and prayerful’.
Local authorities have deployed squads and local hunters in a bid to rescue the kidnapped children.
Police have also said security agencies were ‘combing the forests with a view to rescuing the abducted students’.
It is still unknown who is responsible for the abductions.
Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump said he would send troops into Nigeria ‘guns-a-blazing’ if its government ‘continues to allow the killings of Christians’.
His claims that Christians are being persecuted by Muslims were dismissed by the Nigerian government.
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