Three killed as bandits attack Nigeria school: police

A "large number of heavily armed bandits" on around 40 motorbikes raided a public secondary school in Kogi State's Iluke Bunu, apparently intending to abduct students and residents, police said in a statement.

Security forces "engaged the hoodlums in a fierce gun duel, forcing the criminals to flee into the surrounding bush," it added.

Three people were killed in the attack, including the school's vice principal, a 70-year-old man and a six-year-old. Police said one of the attackers was killed in the shootout.

Nigeria is frequently hit by mass kidnappings, usually carried out by criminal gangs seeking ransom payments and targeting rural communities with weak security.

Abductions of schoolchildren have surged again in recent months, forcing the temporary closure of some schools across the north and centre of the country.

Central Nigeria, including Kogi State, has seen a recent string of violent attacks on schools, some blamed on jihadist groups.

In April, 23 children were abducted from an orphanage in a remote area near the state capital Lokoja, before later being rescued.

In mid-May, dozens of students were kidnapped in Oyo State in the south by armed men described by the military as Boko Haram fighters.

The spread of mass kidnappings further south has raised fears that jihadists, under military pressure in their northern strongholds, are shifting operations to other parts of the country.