Groups of armed gunmen abducted 25 girls, killed one staff member and injured another at a high school in northwestern Nigeria just before dawn on Monday (November 17), police announced via the Associated Press.
The incident took place at 4:00 a.m. local time at a boarding school in Maga, according to police spokesperson Nafi’u Abubakar Kotarkoshi. The suspects were described as having “sophisticated weapons” and exchanged fire with guards prior to abducting the girls, according to Kotarkoshi.
No group has claimed responsibility for the incident as of Monday.
“A combined team is currently combing suspected escape routes and surrounding forests in a coordinated search and rescue operation aimed at recovering the abducted students and arresting the perpetrators,” Kotarkoshi said via the Associated Press.
No additional details were made available at the time of publication. Monday’s incident is the latest school abduction reported in Nigeria’s northern region since 276 students were abducted by the self-proclaimed jihadist militant group Boko Haram from Chibok in Borno state in 2014. The school had been closed for four weeks due to security conditions, but girls were in attendance to take final exams in April 2014.
Abductions are reported to be common in Nigeria’s northern region as military officials have attempted to combat a rise in attacks by different armed groups in 2025, according to the Associated Press.
THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY AND WILL BE UPDATED.
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