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Armed attackers have kidnapped in excess of 300 students and teachers in what is considered the largest group abductions in recent Nigerian history, as reported by a Christian organization on the weekend.

Escalating Crisis in Educational Institutions

The pre-dawn Friday assault on St Mary's mixed-gender school in western Nigeria occurred just days after armed men attacked a high school in adjacent Kebbi state, seizing 25 young women.

Initial reports had suggested 227 individuals were taken, but new numbers were released after a thorough assessment confirmed that 303 students and 12 educators had been kidnapped.

The kidnapped pupils, aged between eight and 18 years, account for nearly 50 percent of the school's total student body of 629.

Official Response and Safety Measures

State officials have confirmed that intelligence departments and police are presently conducting a thorough head count to determine the exact number of abducted people.

In reaction to the increasing safety concerns, the local authorities has directed the closure of every schools in the state, with neighboring states following similar preventive actions.

Furthermore, the federal education department has ordered the temporary closure of 47 boarding secondary schools across the country.

President Bola Tinubu has called off international engagements, including participation at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to concentrate on addressing the situation.

Latest Security Events

The educational institution kidnappings constitute the most recent in a sequence of safety breaches that have shaken the country, including an attack on a church in western Nigeria where gunmen shot dead two people and abducted many worshipers during a online broadcast service.

These events have occurred against the background of global attention on Nigeria's security situation.

Past Context

Nigeria remains traumatized by the memory of the large-scale kidnapping of almost 300 schoolgirls by extremist group Boko Haram in Chibok over a ten years ago, with some of those girls still missing.

Eyewitness Testimonies

In a disturbing recording shared by religious groups, a upset worker described hearing the noise of bikes and cars before hearing "violent banging" on multiple entrances of the compound.

"Students were crying," the staff member stated, recounting her terror while searching for access to the area where the screaming was most intense.

The regional Catholic authority confirmed that the "assailants operated aggressively and uninterrupted for nearly three hours, searching dormitories."

Public Response and Fears

Meanwhile, about 600km away on the outskirts of Abuja, worried guardians were picking up their children from schools following the closure order.

One mother, a 40-year-old nurse, voiced her disbelief at the magnitude of the kidnapping, questioning how 300 children could be abducted at once.

She stated that the "authorities is not doing enough to curb the security crisis," and expressed support for external intervention to "salvage this situation."

Ongoing Safety Issues

For a long time, well-equipped criminal gangs have been conducting murders and kidnappings for ransom in remote areas of northwest and middle Nigeria, where government control is minimal.

While nobody has taken credit for the latest attacks, criminal groups demanding financial compensation frequently attack schools in countryside locations where security is weak.

These groups maintain camps in vast woodland areas straddling several states in the west of Nigeria.

Although these bandits have no ideological leanings and are primarily motivated by financial gain, their increasing cooperation with extremist groups from the north-east has become a significant source of worry for authorities and experts alike.