"Local police said the gunmen scaled the fence to enter the school premises and exchanged gunfire with police officers before seizing the girls and killing a staff member. No group has claimed responsibility for taking the girls, but analysts and locals say gangs of bandits often target schools, travelers and remote villagers in kidnappings for ransoms. Authorities say the bandits are mostly former herders who have taken up arms against farming communities after clashes between them over strained resources."
"The student who escaped arrived home late Monday, hours after the kidnapping, according to the school principal Musa Rabi Magaji. Another student was able to escape the gunmen in the minutes after the raid and was not abducted, the principal told AP. "They are safe and sound," Magaji said. A video verified by AP shows the two schoolgirls, who appear to be in their early teens, lost in thought and surrounded by family and other villagers, with hijabs covering their heads."
A pre-dawn attack on the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga, Kebbi State, led to the abduction of 24 students from a dormitory. Gunmen scaled the fence, exchanged fire with police and killed a staff member during the raid. One student escaped and returned home hours after the kidnapping, and another evaded capture during the raid. No group has claimed responsibility. Analysts and locals point to gangs of bandits who abduct for ransom, and authorities link many bandits to former herders turned fighters after clashes over strained resources. Security forces and local hunters are sweeping nearby forests and major roads in intensified rescue efforts.
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