From Reuters:
More than 300 children and staff are thought to have been abducted from a Catholic school in Nigeria this week, one of the worst mass kidnappings ever recorded there.
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) said on Saturday it had raised its estimate of those taken from St Mary’s School in Niger state on Friday to 315 from an earlier estimate of 227 following a “verification exercise”.
“This now makes it 303 students (and) … 12 teachers, bringing the total number of abducted persons to 315,” it said in a statement, adding the new figure included 88 students who had been captured as they tried to escape.
The kidnapping comes amid a surge of attacks by armed groups and Islamist insurgents in Nigeria, which has been under heightened scrutiny since U.S. President Donald Trump threatened military action this month over the treatment of Christians.
If confirmed, the revised number of people taken at the school would exceed the 276 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram militants in Chibok in 2014.
The Niger state government said on Friday the school had ignored an instruction that boarding schools should be closed because of intelligence indicating a high chance of attacks.
But Reverend Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, the CAN chairman in Niger, said no such warning had been issued after travelling to the school on Friday night.
Vatican News adds:
We receive with deep sorrow the news of the kidnapping of pupils and teachers from St. Mary’s school in the Agwara district,” said Abubakar Usman, Secretary to the Government (SSG) of Niger State, adding that “the exact number of people kidnapped is not yet available.” Usman also noted that, due to increasing insecurity in the area, the local government had ordered the temporary closure of all boarding schools as a precaution.
“Unfortunately, however, St. Mary’s school resumed academic activities without informing the authorities, exposing students and staff to an avoidable risk,” he added.
In a statement of the Diocese of Kontagora, sent to the Vatican’s Fides news agency, Diocesan Secretary Jatau Luka Joseph states that a security staff member was seriously injured during the attack, which is believed to have occurred between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. local time.
“The Diocese of Kontagora,” the statement reads, “strongly condemns the attack and expresses deep concern for the safety of the kidnapped children and their families. Security agencies were immediately informed and have launched coordinated efforts to ensure that the hostages may return safely.”
