Gunmen Kill School Vice Principal, Kidnap 25 Girls in Northwest Nigeria
Armed attackers storm girls’ boarding school in northwest Nigeria, escalating a spate of mass kidnappings.
- Vice Principal Hassan Yakubu Makuku killed resisting the raid
- 25 female students abducted from Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School, Maga
- Security forces and local vigilantes launched search and rescue operations
Gunmen launched a pre-dawn assault on a government girls’ boarding school in Maga, Kebbi State, Nigeria, early Monday, killing the vice principal and abducting 25 female students, police reported.
Armed with rifles and employing coordinated tactics, the attackers clashed with police guards before scaling the school’s fence and taking the students, according to police spokesperson Nafiu Abubakar Kotarkoshi.
Vice Principal Hassan Yakubu Makuku was shot dead while trying to resist the assailants, and another staff member sustained gunshot injuries, Kotarkoshi said.
Authorities have deployed additional police units, soldiers, and local vigilante groups to search nearby forests and potential escape routes in a bid to rescue the kidnapped girls.
Northwest Nigeria has been plagued by mass abductions targeting schools, with armed gangs frequently seeking ransom despite government security pledges. The region recalls the infamous 2014 Chibok abduction by Boko Haram, when 270 schoolgirls were kidnapped, many later rescued or escaped, though some remain missing.
