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Gunmen have kidnapped over 300 students and teachers in what appears to be the biggest mass kidnappings in recent Nigerian times, according to a Christian organization on the weekend.

Escalating Emergency in School Institutions

The Friday morning attack on St Mary's co-educational school in Niger state occurred just days after gunmen stormed a secondary school in adjacent Kebbi state, seizing 25 young women.

Initial reports had indicated 227 victims were taken, but revised numbers emerged after a comprehensive assessment established that 303 students and 12 instructors had been abducted.

The taken students, aged between eight and 18 years, constitute nearly half of the school's total student population of 629.

Government Response and Safety Actions

State authorities have confirmed that intelligence agencies and police are currently performing a thorough assessment to verify the precise number of missing individuals.

In response to the growing safety fears, the local authorities has directed the closure of all schools in the state, with neighboring states following comparable preventive measures.

Additionally, the federal education department has directed the temporary closure of 47 residential high schools across the country.

President Bola Tinubu has postponed international engagements, including attendance at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to concentrate on addressing the situation.

Recent Violent Incidents

The school kidnappings represent the latest in a sequence of security breaches that have shaken the nation, including an attack on a church in western Nigeria where assailants shot dead two individuals and abducted numerous worshipers during a online broadcast service.

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

Past Background

Nigeria continues to be traumatized by the memory of the large-scale kidnapping of nearly 300 female students by extremist group Boko Haram in Chibok more than a ten years ago, with several of those girls still unaccounted for.

Eyewitness Accounts

In a disturbing video clip circulated by religious organizations, a frightened school staff member described hearing the noise of bikes and vehicles before hearing "violent banging" on multiple gates of the compound.

"Children were crying," the staff member said, describing her panic while searching for access to the section where the crying was loudest.

The local Catholic diocese stated that the "attackers operated violently and without interruption for nearly three hours, searching dormitories."

Citizen Reaction and Concerns

At the same time, about 600km away on the outskirts of Abuja, worried parents were picking up their students from educational institutions following the shutdown order.

One mother, a 40-year-old healthcare worker, voiced her disbelief at the magnitude of the kidnapping, questioning how 300 children could be taken simultaneously.

She concluded that the "authorities is failing to act to curb the security crisis," and expressed approval for external assistance to "resolve this crisis."

Ongoing Security Challenges

For years, heavily armed criminal gangs have been conducting killings and kidnappings for money in rural areas of northwest and middle Nigeria, where state presence is minimal.

While nobody has taken credit for the recent attacks, bandit gangs demanding financial compensation often attack schools in countryside locations where security is weak.

These groups maintain bases in extensive woodland areas spanning several states in the west of Nigeria.

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