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Armed attackers have kidnapped more than 300 pupils and educators in one of the biggest collective seizures in modern Nigerian experience, as reported by a Christian organization on Saturday.

Growing Emergency in School Facilities

The Friday morning attack on St Mary's mixed-gender school in western Nigeria occurred just days after armed men invaded a secondary school in neighboring Kebbi state, seizing 25 girls.

Earlier accounts had suggested 227 victims were taken, but new figures were released after a detailed assessment determined that 303 students and 12 teachers had been abducted.

The abducted children, aged between eight and 18 years, constitute nearly half of the school's overall enrollment of 629.

Official Reaction and Security Actions

State authorities have confirmed that security agencies and law enforcement are presently performing a comprehensive assessment to establish the exact number of missing people.

In response to the growing security fears, the state government has directed the closure of all schools in the region, with neighboring states following comparable preventive actions.

Furthermore, the national education ministry has directed the temporary shutting of 47 residential high schools across the country.

President Bola Tinubu has called off international commitments, including participation at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to focus on handling the crisis.

Latest Violent Incidents

The school abductions constitute the most recent in a sequence of safety breaches that have rocked the nation, including an assault on a church in western Nigeria where gunmen shot dead two people and seized dozens congregation members during a online broadcast service.

These incidents have taken place against the backdrop of global attention on Nigeria's safety situation.

Past Background

Nigeria continues to be scarred by the memory of the large-scale abduction of almost 300 schoolgirls by jihadist group Boko Haram in Chibok more than a decade ago, with some of those victims still missing.

Firsthand Accounts

In a concerning recording circulated by religious groups, a frightened employee described hearing the sounds of bikes and vehicles before experiencing "forceful banging" on multiple entrances of the school premises.

"Students were crying," the staff member said, recounting her panic while looking for keys to the area where the screaming was loudest.

The regional Catholic authority stated that the "assailants acted aggressively and uninterrupted for almost three hours, searching sleeping quarters."

Citizen Reaction and Fears

Meanwhile, about 600km away on the periphery of Abuja, worried guardians were collecting their children from schools following the shutdown directive.

One parent, a 40-year-old nurse, voiced her shock at the scale of the kidnapping, asking how 300 children could be taken at once.

She concluded that the "authorities is failing to act to combat insecurity," and expressed approval for international intervention to "resolve this crisis."

Ongoing Security Issues

For years, heavily armed criminal gangs have been carrying out killings and kidnappings for money in remote areas of northern and central Nigeria, where state presence is limited.

While no group has claimed responsibility for the recent attacks, bandit gangs demanding financial compensation often target schools in rural areas where protection is weak.

These gangs maintain camps in extensive forest areas spanning multiple states in western Nigeria.

Although these criminals have no ideological leanings and are mainly driven by monetary profit, their growing alliance with extremist groups from the north-east has become a significant source of concern for authorities and security analysts alike.