Gunmen have killed a police officer and abducted five teachers and an unspecified number of students from a school in northwestern Nigeria’s Kebi State, according to police and local witnesses.
The attack adds to a series of kidnappings by schools, which authorities attribute to armed gangs seeking ransom to free the hostages.
Kebi State Police spokesman Nafiu Abubakar said a police officer was killed in a shootout with gunmen and that a student was injured and was being treated.
“We are still trying to confirm the number of abducted students,” he added.
The bomber struck shortly after noon in front of a federal high school in the isolated city of Birin Yuri. Security forces are looking for hostages in a neighboring forest.
Attikou Aboki, a resident who went to school shortly after the shooting stopped, said he saw scenes of panic and confusion as many parents searched for their children. “When we went there we saw students crying, teachers crying, we all sympathize. Everyone was confused. “Then my brother called me and told me he did not know if his two children were among the hostages.”
More than 800 Nigerian students have been expelled from their schools since December. Some have been released, others are still missing.
These attacks are mainly in northwestern Nigeria and are not related to the activities of extremist Islamists in the northeastern provinces.
