Suspected Islamist militants abducted an unspecified number of students from a school in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state on Friday, residents and local sources said, in an attack that has renewed fears over school security in the insurgency-hit region.
The attack took place at Mussa Primary and Junior Secondary School in Askira-Uba Local Government Area at around 9 a.m. local time while classes were underway, according to residents living near the school.
Witnesses said armed men riding motorcycles stormed the school compound and seized several students before fleeing the area.
“Despite some students escaping into the bushes, many were taken away,” a teacher at the school told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Another resident, Ubaidallah Hasaan, who lives near the school, said panic spread across the community as gunmen entered the area during school hours.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the abduction, but the attack bore the hallmarks of Boko Haram, the Islamist militant group that has waged a violent insurgency across northeastern Nigeria for more than a decade.
The incident revived memories of the 2014 Chibok school abduction in Borno state, when Boko Haram kidnapped more than 270 schoolgirls in an attack that drew global outrage and international attention.
Mussa community lies near the Sambisa Forest, a longtime hideout and operational base for Islamist insurgents active in the region.
Local lawmaker Midala Usman Balami described the abduction as “heartbreaking” and urged security forces to act quickly to rescue the students.
Nigeria’s military and police had not issued an official statement on the attack as of Friday evening.
Despite ongoing military operations in Borno and neighbouring states, attacks on rural communities and schools continue to raise concerns about persistent security gaps in northeastern Nigeria.