Gunmen kill one and abduct students from school in Nigeria

Schools in Nigeria have been frequent targets of gunmen in recent months
Schools in Nigeria have been frequent targets of gunmen in recent months Copyright Sunday Alamba/AP
By Euronews with AP
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Nigerian media report gunmen abducted around 200 students from the Salihu Tanko Islamic School.

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Gunmen have abducted a large number of students from a school in Nigeria, and shot one person dead, police in the country said.

Nigerian media, including the independent Channels TV, reported around 200 students were taken from the Salihu Tanko Islamic School in the north-central Niger State.

Wasiu Abiodun, the Niger state police spokesman, confirmed the incident, though without giving a number for those abducted.

He said the abduction was carried out by “armed bandits on board motorcycles in their numbers.”

The gunmen fired “indiscriminately and abducted a yet to be ascertained number of children,” he said, adding that the gunmen shot one person dead in the process.

All “tactical teams” have been mobilised to rescue the victims and the police will “ensure that the children are rescued unhurt,” he said.

The incident is the latest in a series of mass abductions in Nigerian schools by armed gangs who collect money for ransom.

Gunmen have carried out raids on schools in northern Nigeria, kidnapping hundreds of students since December.

The worst incident this year occurred at the Government Girls Secondary School Jangebe in February, when 279 girls were abducted and later released.

Many schools have been forced to close due to the frequent incidents.

On Saturday, 14 university students and staff who had been abducted from Greenfield University in Kaduna state on April 20 were released after spending more than a month in captivity.

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