MAGA, Nigeria – Armed men have killed a teacher and abducted at least 25 students in a brazen raid on a girls’ secondary school in northwestern Nigeria, police said on Monday.
The attackers struck the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga, Kebbi State, at around 4 a.m. local time, according to authorities.
A police statement said the assailants engaged on-duty officers in a gunfight before scaling the school’s perimeter fence and seizing students from the hostel.
“One staff member was killed while trying to protect the students,” the statement said. Another teacher was shot and is receiving medical care.
Eyewitnesses described a large group of armed men, locally known as bandits, firing sporadically to create panic before marching several girls into nearby bushland.
Police said they have deployed additional tactical units, alongside military personnel and local vigilantes, to track down the perpetrators.
Search and rescue operations are ongoing in surrounding forests and along suspected escape routes.
Northern Nigeria has seen a decade-long surge in attacks on schools, with armed groups often abducting students for ransom or to exert pressure on authorities.
The Kebbi incident is the first major school abduction since March 2024, when over 200 pupils were seized in Kuriga, Kaduna State.
The attack has left families in Maga in a state of anguish and uncertainty, as communities await news of their daughters’ safe return amid an ongoing regional security crisis.
