Gunmen Reportedly Abduct 25 Girls From High School

Gunmen attacked a secondary school in northwestern Nigeria before dawn on Monday (November 18). Authorities said the gunmen took 25 schoolgirls and killed at least one female employee. It is the latest student kidnapping in the region. No party immediately claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of the girls from the boarding school in Kebbi State. In addition, the militants’ motives were not clear.

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More details about the high school kidnapping

Police said that gunmen took the girls from their homes at 4 a.m. on Monday. Police spokesman Nafiu Abubakar Kutarkoshi said the school is located in Maja in the Danko-Wasago district of the state. Kotarkoshi said the attackers were armed with “sophisticated weapons” and exchanged gunfire with the guards before kidnapping the girls.

“A joint team is currently combing suspected escape routes and surrounding forests in a coordinated search and rescue operation aimed at recovering the kidnapped students and arresting the perpetrators,” the spokesman said.

Kotarkoshi said one person was killed and another injured. However, one resident said his daughter and granddaughter were kidnapped in the raid and the death toll is believed to be two. Police did not respond to an AP call seeking confirmation of the second death.

Abdul Karim Abdullah Maga said: “We were told that the attackers entered the school with several motorcycles. They first went directly to the teacher’s house and killed him before killing the guard.”

Kidnappings are not new in Nigeria

According to the Associated Press, Nigeria faces a multi-dimensional security challenge, specifically from shadowy groups of armed bandits who specialize in kidnappings for ransom, sometimes totaling thousands of dollars. These groups have been responsible for several high-profile kidnappings throughout the northern region of Nigeria. Kidnappings and attacks on villages and along main roads have become common due to the limited security presence. These thieves are not linked to extremist groups such as Boko Haram and the splinter group of the Islamic State in West Africa. The second group’s attacks on communities and government facilities are religiously motivated.

Hundreds of students have been kidnapped since 2014

Armed groups have been targeting schoolchildren in the region since 2014. That year, Boko Haram kidnapped 276 students from Chibok in Borno State. This kidnapping marked the beginning of a new era of fear. Dozens are still in captivity.

Since the Chibok kidnapping, at least 1,500 students have been kidnapped. As mentioned, armed groups are increasingly finding kidnappings a lucrative way to finance other crimes and control villages in the mineral-rich but poorly policed ​​region. In March 2024, more than 130 schoolchildren were rescued after spending more than two weeks in captivity in Nigeria’s Kaduna state.
However, raids on schools have declined in recent years as state governments have implemented security measures in hotspot areas, including closing schools for an extended period of time.

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Associated Press writers Oby Adetayo and Debkaza Shibayan and freelance journalist Mohamed Ibrahim contributed to this report via the AP Newsroom.