Gunmen in Nigeria kidnap over 200 Catholic school students

Gunmen in Nigeria kidnapped at least 227 students and teachers at a Catholic school in the northwest on Friday, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) said, the latest in a spate of school attacks this week that has forced the government to shut 47 colleges.

Friday's incident in Niger state was the largest mass kidnapping of school children since the March 2024 abduction of more than 200 students in northern Kaduna state.

Reverend Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, the CAN chairman in Niger said he had travelled to the school. He said some students managed to escape, but gave no details.

"From our record, 215 pupils and students including 12 teachers were abducted by the terrorists," Yohanna said in a statement.

Earlier, police and local government officials in Niger state confirmed the kidnapping from St. Mary's School, but they did not say how many.

Nigeria's security situation has been under heightened scrutiny since U.S. President Donald Trump threatened "fast" military action if the country fails to crack down on the killing of Christians.

In the first high-level meeting between the U.S. and Nigeria since Trump's threat, Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth wrote on X that he met Nigeria's national security advisor on Thursday to discuss the persecution of Christians.

Nigeria's government says Trump's claims that Christians face persecution in Nigeria are a misrepresentation.

Police said security agencies were on the scene of Friday's attack on the Catholic school, combing nearby forests to try to rescue those abducted.

The Niger state government said the school had ignored an instruction that boarding schools should be closed because of intelligence indicating a high chance of attacks.

Other attacks this week include the kidnapping on Monday of 25 schoolgirls from a boarding school in Kebbi state and an attack on a church in Kwara state, in which a church official told Reuters that 38 worshippers were taken by gunmen.

The church official said the gunmen had issued a ransom demand of 100 million naira (roughly $69,000) per worshipper.

This week's attacks prompted Nigerian President Bola Tinubu to cancel trips to South Africa and Angola, where he was due to attend a G20 summit and an African Union-European Union summit.