Gunmen abduct 9 students in Nigeria's north in the latest attack targeting schools

Gunmen raided a university in Nigeria's Kogi state, abducting nine students. The state has activated security forces and local hunters to locate the kidnappers and rescue the students. Nigeria has faced multiple school kidnappings, with over 1,400 students abducted since 2014. The Chibok village abduction in 2014 sparked the #BringBackOurGirls campaign. Despite efforts, some abducted students, including Chibok girls, remain captive.

At least nine students have been abducted by gunmen during a late-night raid on their school in northern Nigeria's Kogi state, authorities said Friday, the third such abduction amid rampant kidnappings targeting schools in the conflict-hit region this year.

The assailants invaded the Confluence University of Science and Technology in Kogi state, which neighbours the nation's capital, Abuja, and whisked away the students from their classrooms before security forces could arrive, according to Kogi Commissioner for Information Kingsley Femi Fanwo.

The state has “activated the security architecture to track the kidnappers and ensure the abducted students are rescued and the abductors apprehended,” Fanwo added.

The official said local hunters were helping security forces in “combing” the school area, which is surrounded by bushes in the remote Osara town.

Nigeria has struggled with several mass school kidnappings since the first such incident in 2014 when Islamic extremists abducted more than 200 schoolgirls from the northeastern Chibok village, sparking the global #BringBackOurGirls social media campaign.

At least 1,400 Nigerian students have since been abducted from their schools in similar circumstances, including at least 130 children abducted from their school in Kuriga town in the northern Kaduna state in March. Some are still held captive, including nearly 100 of the Chibok girls.

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