BREAKING: Over 100 students abducted as bandits raid Catholic school in Niger

Suspected armed bandits have stormed a missionary school in Papiri ward, Agwara Local Government Area of Niger State, whisking away more than 100 pupils in the early hours of Friday.

The institution, St. Mary Primary and Secondary School a long-standing missionary establishment operating both day and boarding systems for over five decades has served communities across the Borgu kingdom with quality education.

A resident familiar with the incident revealed that the attackers, heavily armed, arrived around 3:00 am.

They reportedly surrounded the entire premises before forcing their way into the hostel, from where they compelled the students into two waiting Mitsubishi Canter trucks.

“As usual, they fired several shots into the air on arrival to instill fear and ensure no one attempted resistance,” the source explained.

The latest raid occurred barely two weeks after gunmen ambushed the convoy of the legislator representing Agwara/Borgu Federal Constituency, Hon. Jafaru Mohammed Ali, in the same axis an attack that left six soldiers dead.

As of the time of compiling this report, the exact number of victims and possible injuries remains unclear, as neither the school authorities, the Niger State Government, nor the State Police Command has issued an official statement.

It will be recalled that Niger State has suffered similar mass abductions in previous years. In 2021, armed men attacked Government Science Secondary School, Kagara, in Rafi LGA and abducted at least 42 persons, including 27 students.

The same year, about 200 students were taken from an Islamic school in Tegina, also in Rafi LGA.

Those incidents prompted the then-Governor, Abubakar Sani Bello, to order the closure of all boarding facilities across the state.

At least 22 schools  11 boarding and 11 day schools  were shut down in response to the worsening insecurity.