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Armed attackers have kidnapped over 300 schoolchildren and staff in one of the largest mass kidnappings in modern Nigerian history, as reported by a Christian organization on the weekend.

Escalating Crisis in School Facilities

The Friday morning raid on St Mary's mixed-gender school in Niger state happened just days after gunmen attacked a secondary school in adjacent Kebbi state, taking 25 female students.

Earlier accounts had stated 227 individuals were seized, but revised numbers emerged after a detailed assessment determined that 303 pupils and 12 instructors had been kidnapped.

The kidnapped pupils, ranging between eight and 18 years, account for nearly half of the school's total student population of 629.

Official Response and Security Measures

State officials have announced that intelligence agencies and police are presently conducting a thorough census to determine the exact number of missing people.

In reaction to the growing security fears, the local authorities has directed the shutting of all schools in the state, with neighboring states following comparable precautionary steps.

Additionally, the federal education ministry has ordered the provisional shutting of 47 boarding secondary schools throughout the country.

President Bola Tinubu has postponed international engagements, including attendance at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to focus on addressing the emergency.

Latest Security Incidents

The school kidnappings constitute the most recent in a series of security incidents that have shaken the country, including an assault on a church in western Nigeria where gunmen shot dead two people and seized dozens congregation members during a live-streamed service.

These events have taken place against the background of global attention on Nigeria's safety situation.

Past Background

Nigeria continues to be traumatized by the memory of the large-scale kidnapping of nearly 300 female students by extremist group Boko Haram in Chibok over a ten years ago, with several of those victims still missing.

Eyewitness Accounts

In a concerning video clip circulated by Christian organizations, a distraught employee recounted hearing the noise of motorcycles and vehicles before experiencing "forceful banging" on multiple entrances of the compound.

"Students were screaming," the witness stated, describing her terror while searching for keys to the section where the screaming was most intense.

The regional Catholic authority confirmed that the "assailants acted aggressively and without interruption for almost three hours, searching dormitories."

Citizen Response and Concerns

At the same time, about 600km away on the periphery of Abuja, worried parents were picking up their students from educational institutions following the closure order.

One mother, a 40-year-old nurse, expressed her disbelief at the magnitude of the kidnapping, asking how 300 children could be abducted simultaneously.

She stated that the "authorities is not doing enough to address insecurity," and voiced support for external assistance to "salvage this situation."

Ongoing Security Issues

For a long time, heavily armed bandit groups have been carrying out murders and kidnappings for money in rural areas of northern and central Nigeria, where state presence is minimal.

While nobody has claimed responsibility for the recent incidents, bandit gangs seeking ransom payments often target schools in countryside locations where security is weak.

These groups maintain bases in extensive forest areas straddling several states in the west of Nigeria.

Although these criminals have no political motives and are mainly driven by monetary profit, their increasing cooperation with extremist groups from the northeastern region has become a major cause of concern for officials and security analysts alike.