Gunmen kidnap students, staff from school in Nigeria

A secondary school in Nigeria was attacked on Wednesday by unidentified gunmen who also kidnapped many of the students.

According to Reuters, the gunmen rushed the Government Science college, located in Nigeria’s Niger state, at around 2 a.m. They were able to overwhelm the school’s security and abduct several students.

The state governor’s spokeswoman referred to the incident as a mass abduction, but did not specify how many students were taken from the school, Reuters reported.

While it was not immediately known who was responsible for Wednesday’s kidnapping, the outlet reported that militant Islamist group Boko Haram and a branch of ISIS are both active in northern Nigeria, where the abduction took place.

Other armed groups have also carried out kidnappings in the region. Children in the past have been held for ransom, according to Reuters.

In December of last year, Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of hundreds of Nigerian schoolboys. Nearly 330 students were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School in Nigeria’s Katsina state at the time.