More than 280 children abducted in area of Nigeria controlled by Boko Haram breakaway group

Suspected Islamist extremists have abducted more than 280 children in the north-western town of Kuriga in Nigeria.

While authorities initially said more than 100 students were taken hostage, the school headteacher told Kaduna governor Uba Sani that the headcount of those missing has reached 287.

This is the second mass abduction in the West African nation in less than a week. “We will ensure that every child will come back. We are working with the security agencies,” the governor was quoted as saying by the Guardian.

Gunmen attacked the school when the pupils were in the assembly ground for morning prayers at around 8.30am local time. According to eyewitness, one of the students was shot by the gunmen and is receiving treatment in Birnin Gwari hospital.

“The government is trying everything possible with the security agencies to see how we can rescue them,” said Musa, chairman of the local council.

The incident comes days after Islamist extremists abducted at least 200 people who were out searching for firewood, mostly women and children displaced by violence in northeastern Nigeria.

Officials do not believe the two cases are not related. Locals blamed the earlier incident on extremist rebels from Boko Haram, who launched an insurgency in Borno in 2009 seeking to establish their radical interpretation of Islamic law in the region.

Thursday’s attack, meanwhile, occurred in an area controlled by a breakaway faction of Boko Haram.