ABUJA, Nigeria — Fifty of the 303 pupils abducted from a Catholic school in Niger state have escaped and are back with their families, school officials said Sunday, offering some relief to worried relatives after one of the largest school kidnappings in the country.
Most Rev. Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Niger state and proprietor of St. Mary’s School, said the children — aged about 10 to 18 — made their way free individually between Friday and Saturday. Yohanna said that, according to the school’s accounting, 253 pupils and students and 12 teachers remain in the hands of the kidnappers.
The pupils and teachers were seized when gunmen attacked the remote Catholic school in the Papiri community on Friday. No group has claimed responsibility for the assault. Authorities have dispatched tactical units and local hunters to search for and recover the remaining captives.
It is not yet clear where the remaining students and staff are being held or how the 50 children managed to return home. Nigeria’s military and police did not immediately respond to an Associated Press request for comment.
“As much as we receive the return of these 50 children that escaped with some sigh of relief, I urge you all to continue in your prayers for the rescue and safe return of the remaining victims,” Yohanna said.
The abduction in Niger state happened four days after another school raid in nearby Kebbi state, where 25 pupils were taken in Maga town, about 170 kilometers (106 miles) away.
Both states lie in a northern region where dozens of armed gangs exploit weak security and use kidnapping for ransom to control isolated communities. Satellite images show the Niger state school compound is linked to an adjoining primary school and includes more than 50 classroom and dormitory structures; it sits close to a main road between the towns of Yelwa and Mokwa.
School kidnappings have become a recurring feature of insecurity in Africa’s most populous nation, with attackers often targeting schools to draw attention and extract payments. In response to the St. Mary’s attack, Niger state ordered all schools closed Friday, and the federal government has also closed some colleges in conflict-affected areas.