One of the 25 schoolgirls abducted during a pre-dawn attack on a boarding high school in northwestern Nigeria has escaped captivity and returned home, the school’s principal said Tuesday, marking the first confirmed escape since the mass kidnapping in Kebbi state.
Gunmen stormed the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in the Maga community early Monday, seizing 25 students from their dormitory and killing a staff member. Hours after the attack, one of the abducted girls fled through surrounding forests and made her way home late Monday, according to principal Musa Rabi Magaji.
Another student, who was not among the 25 confirmed abducted, also escaped soon after the gunmen entered the school, Magaji told The Associated Press. “One is part of the 25 abducted and the other one returned earlier,” he said. “They are safe and sound.”
The attack is the latest in a surge of mass school kidnappings across northern Nigeria, where armed gangs have increasingly targeted educational institutions to draw attention and secure ransom payments.
Security analysts say the groups are made up largely of former herders who have taken up arms after violent clashes with farming communities over dwindling land and water resources. Jihadi factions have also expanded their reach, compounding insecurity in the region.
No group has claimed responsibility for the Kebbi abduction, though residents and analysts say it bears the hallmarks of the gangs that routinely raid schools, villages and major roads for ransom.
The persistent violence has been fueled by corruption, weak law enforcement, and porous borders that allow weapons to flow freely into remote areas, leaving security forces struggling to respond.
Authorities have not announced any rescue but say search operations are ongoing.
AP
