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Armed attackers have kidnapped more than 300 students and teachers in one of the most significant mass kidnappings in modern Nigerian experience, as stated by a religious organization on the weekend.

Escalating Emergency in School Institutions

The early Friday attack on St Mary's co-educational school in western Nigeria happened just days after gunmen attacked a high school in adjacent Kebbi state, abducting 25 young women.

Earlier reports had indicated 227 victims were taken, but updated figures emerged after a thorough assessment confirmed that 303 pupils and 12 educators had been abducted.

The kidnapped students, ranging between eight and 18 years, account for nearly 50 percent of the school's total enrollment of 629.

Official Reaction and Safety Measures

State officials have announced that intelligence agencies and police are presently performing a comprehensive assessment to verify the precise number of abducted people.

In reaction to the increasing security fears, the state government has mandated the closure of all schools in the state, with nearby states adopting comparable preventive measures.

Furthermore, the federal education department has ordered the temporary closure of 47 boarding secondary schools across the country.

President Bola Tinubu has cancelled overseas engagements, including participation at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to concentrate on handling the crisis.

Latest Violent Incidents

The educational institution abductions constitute the latest in a sequence of safety breaches that have rocked the country, including an assault on a church in the west of Nigeria where gunmen killed two individuals and abducted numerous worshipers during a live-streamed service.

These events have occurred against the backdrop of global attention on Nigeria's safety situation.

Past Context

Nigeria remains traumatized by the memory of the large-scale kidnapping of almost 300 schoolgirls by extremist group Boko Haram in Chibok over a decade ago, with some of those girls still missing.

Eyewitness Accounts

In a concerning recording circulated by religious groups, a distraught employee recounted hearing the noise of motorcycles and cars before experiencing "forceful banging" on multiple entrances of the school premises.

"Students were crying," the witness stated, describing her fear while looking for access to the section where the screaming was most intense.

The local Catholic authority confirmed that the "attackers acted aggressively and uninterrupted for almost three hours, moving through dormitories."

Public Reaction and Fears

Meanwhile, about 600km away on the outskirts of Abuja, worried guardians were collecting their students from schools following the shutdown directive.

One parent, a 40-year-old nurse, expressed her shock at the magnitude of the kidnapping, asking how 300 children could be taken at once.

She concluded that the "authorities is failing to act to curb the security crisis," and expressed support for external intervention to "salvage this crisis."

Continuing Security Challenges

For a long time, heavily armed bandit groups have been conducting killings and abductions for money in rural areas of northwest and middle Nigeria, where state presence is minimal.

While no group has claimed responsibility for the recent incidents, criminal groups seeking financial compensation often target schools in rural areas where security is weak.

These gangs maintain camps in extensive woodland areas spanning multiple states in the west of Nigeria.

Although these bandits have no political motives and are primarily driven by financial gain, their growing cooperation with extremist groups from the north-east has become a major source of worry for authorities and experts alike.