Dozens more students abducted

LAGOS, Nigeria — Gunmen abducted scores of children from a school in northwestern Nigeria, the second kidnapping from a school in the country’s north within a week, officials said.

A police officer was fatally shot dead in the attack Thursday at the Federal Government College in Birnin Yauri in Kebbi State, according to police spokesman Nafiu Abubakar.

About 70 children were abducted from the school, according to the Lagosbased Guardian newspaper, which quoted an eyewitness and a staff member of the school.

The incident is the seventh mass abduction from a school in Nigeria this year.

Five teachers and the viceprincipal are also missing and most of the kidnapped students are female, said a student who had been abducted and was later released. He insisted on anonymity for his safety. The captors released the student because he had a gunshot wound and was losing a lot of blood. The Nigerian Army said it had rescued two teachers and five of the students “after a fierce exchange of fire with the criminals.”

The troops are still pursuing the kidnappers to rescue the remaining students, he said.

Last month, 147 students and three teachers were abducted on May 30 from the Salihu Tanko Islamic School, Tegina, in neighboring Niger State. One person was shot dead.

The abductions are being carried out by armed groups seeking ransoms. Many schools have been forced to close as authorities are unable to adequately protect them.

The spate of mass abductions from schools in Nigeria has grown significantly since 2014 when members of the Jihadist group Boko Haram abducted 276 female students from a school in Chibok in Borno State.