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Gunmen have kidnapped over 300 students and teachers in what appears to be the largest mass kidnappings in modern Nigerian history, as reported by a religious organization on the weekend.

Escalating Emergency in School Institutions

The pre-dawn Friday assault on St Mary's co-educational school in Niger state came just days after armed men invaded a secondary school in adjacent Kebbi state, taking 25 girls.

Initial reports had indicated 227 individuals were seized, but new numbers emerged after a detailed counting process confirmed that 303 pupils and 12 instructors had been abducted.

The taken children, ranging between eight and 18 years, account for nearly half of the school's overall enrollment of 629.

Government Reaction and Safety Actions

State officials have stated that security agencies and law enforcement are presently conducting a comprehensive assessment to verify the precise number of abducted people.

In response to the increasing safety fears, the local authorities has directed the closure of all schools in the state, with nearby states adopting similar precautionary actions.

Additionally, the national education ministry has directed the temporary closure of 47 residential high schools throughout the country.

President Bola Tinubu has called off international engagements, including participation at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to focus on addressing the emergency.

Latest Security Events

The school kidnappings constitute the most recent in a sequence of safety breaches that have rocked the country, including an assault on a place of worship in the west of Nigeria where gunmen shot dead two people and abducted numerous congregation members during a online broadcast service.

These events have occurred against the background of global attention on Nigeria's security situation.

Historical Context

Nigeria continues to be scarred by the memory of the mass abduction of almost 300 schoolgirls by jihadist group Boko Haram in Chibok more than a ten years ago, with some of those girls still unaccounted for.

Eyewitness Accounts

In a disturbing recording circulated by Christian organizations, a distraught school staff member described hearing the sounds of motorcycles and vehicles before hearing "forceful banging" on various entrances of the compound.

"Children were screaming," the staff member reported, recounting her fear while looking for access to the area where the screaming was most intense.

The regional Catholic authority confirmed that the "assailants operated aggressively and without interruption for nearly three hours, moving through sleeping quarters."

Citizen Response and Fears

Meanwhile, about 600km away on the periphery of Abuja, worried guardians were picking up their children from schools following the closure order.

One mother, a 40-year-old healthcare worker, expressed her disbelief at the scale of the abduction, asking how 300 students could be taken simultaneously.

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

Continuing Security Challenges

For years, heavily armed criminal gangs have been conducting murders and abductions for ransom in remote areas of northern and middle Nigeria, where government control is minimal.

While no group has claimed responsibility for the latest attacks, bandit gangs seeking financial compensation frequently target schools in rural areas where security is inadequate.

These groups maintain bases in vast forest areas straddling multiple states in western Nigeria.

Although these criminals have no ideological leanings and are primarily motivated by financial gain, their growing cooperation with jihadist groups from the north-east has become a major cause of worry for authorities and experts alike.