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Armed attackers have kidnapped over 300 schoolchildren and staff in what is considered the biggest collective seizures in modern Nigerian experience, as stated by a religious organization on Saturday.

Growing Crisis in Educational Facilities

The pre-dawn Friday assault on St Mary's mixed-gender school in Niger state came just days after armed men stormed a secondary school in adjacent Kebbi state, abducting 25 girls.

Earlier accounts had suggested 227 victims were taken, but updated numbers were released after a detailed verification exercise established that 303 students and 12 instructors had been kidnapped.

The taken pupils, aged between eight and 18 years, represent nearly half of the school's overall student body of 629.

Official Response and Security Measures

Local officials have confirmed that security agencies and police are presently conducting a comprehensive assessment to verify the precise number of abducted people.

In response to the growing safety concerns, the local authorities has directed the shutting of every schools in the state, with neighboring states following similar preventive steps.

Furthermore, the federal education department has directed the temporary closure of 47 residential high schools across the country.

President Bola Tinubu has cancelled international engagements, including participation at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to focus on handling the situation.

Latest Security Events

The school kidnappings constitute the latest in a sequence of security incidents that have shaken the country, including an assault on a church in the west of Nigeria where assailants killed two individuals and seized dozens congregation members during a live-streamed service.

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

Past Background

Nigeria continues to be scarred by the memory of the mass kidnapping of almost 300 female students by jihadist group Boko Haram in Chibok more than a ten years ago, with some of those girls still unaccounted for.

Firsthand Testimonies

In a concerning recording circulated by Christian groups, a frightened employee recounted hearing the noise of bikes and vehicles before hearing "forceful banging" on multiple entrances of the school premises.

"Children were weeping," the witness reported, recounting her fear while looking for keys to the section where the crying was loudest.

The regional Catholic diocese confirmed that the "assailants acted aggressively and uninterrupted for nearly three hours, moving through dormitories."

Citizen Reaction and Fears

Meanwhile, about 600km away on the outskirts of Abuja, worried parents were collecting their children from educational institutions following the shutdown order.

One parent, a 40-year-old healthcare worker, voiced her disbelief at the magnitude of the kidnapping, questioning how 300 children could be taken at once.

She concluded that the "government is not doing enough to address the security crisis," and expressed support for international assistance to "salvage this situation."

Continuing Safety Issues

For years, well-equipped bandit groups have been conducting killings and kidnappings for money in rural areas of northern and middle Nigeria, where state presence is minimal.

While no group has claimed responsibility for the latest incidents, bandit gangs demanding financial compensation frequently target schools in rural areas where security is inadequate.

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

Although these criminals have no ideological leanings and are mainly motivated by financial gain, their growing alliance with extremist groups from the northeastern region has become a major cause of worry for authorities and security analysts alike.