Unidentified gunmen have kidnapped more than 300 girls from a Nigerian school in the Zamfara state. The town of Jangebe was the location of the most recent mass abduction targeting schools in recent weeks. Armed gangs seize schoolchildren for ransom. At least 42 people, 27 students included, who were kidnapped in Kagara last week, have not been released. The raids on schools are suspected to be the work of criminal gangs.
Friday’s attack occurred at midnight GMT at the Government Girls Secondary School when gunmen arrived with pick-up vehicles and motorcycles. Some gunmen were dressed as government security forces and forced the schoolgirls into the vehicles. Other reports have the gunmen arriving on foot. Of the 421 students in the school at the time, only 55 have been accounted for and a military contingent has been deployed to search for the 317 kidnapped girls.
Read more: Nigeria’s Zamfara school abduction: More than 300 Nigerian girls missing