Gunmen Kill Deputy Principal, Abduct 25 Schoolgirls in Kebbi

Gunmen stormed a girls’ secondary school in northwestern Nigeria’s Kebbi State on Monday, killing the deputy principal and abducting 25 students, police confirmed.

According to authorities, the assailants, armed with “sophisticated weapons,” attacked the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School around 4:00 am local time. The attackers reportedly scaled the school fence and took the students from their hostel to an unknown location, while a security guard sustained injuries during the raid.

“The military, police tactical units, and local vigilantes have been deployed to comb bandits’ routes and nearby forests in an effort to rescue the students and apprehend the perpetrators,” police said in a statement.

The incident highlights the ongoing security crisis in Nigeria’s northwest, where heavily armed criminal gangs, commonly referred to as “bandits”, have increasingly targeted schools, villages, and communities for kidnapping, looting, and attacks.

The region has witnessed multiple abductions in recent years, including the high-profile Chibok kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls in 2014, of whom nearly 100 remain missing. In March of last year, more than 130 students were abducted from a school in Kaduna State but were later released unharmed.

While authorities have attempted negotiations with bandit groups and deployed vigilante forces, the persistent wave of school kidnappings underscores the ongoing challenge Nigeria faces in addressing armed violence, particularly in its northwest and northeast regions.