Nigeria: Mass Kidnapping Sparks Outrage

Family members of abducted children gather in northwest Nigeria during a visit by the local state governor after gunmen kidnapped more than 280 pupils.

Gunmen have kidnapped more than 280 pupils during a raid on a school in northwest Nigeria, a teacher and a local resident said, in one of the country's largest mass abductions.

Kidnappings for ransom are common in Africa's most populous country, where criminal gangs have targeted schools and colleges in the past, especially in the northwest, though such attacks have abated recently.

Local government officials in Kaduna State confirmed the kidnapping attack on Kuriga school, but gave no numbers as they said they were still working out how many children had been abducted.

In GSS Kuriga, 187 children are missing, while in the primary school, 125 children were missing but 25 returned.

Local officials and police did not give any figures for the number of kidnappers. Often figures of those reported kidnapped or missing in Nigeria are lowered after people fleeing the attack return home.

Hundreds of schoolchildren and college students have been kidnapped in mass abductions in the country's northwest and central region, including in Kaduna, in the last few years.

Almost all were released for ransom payments after weeks or months spent in captivity in camps hidden in forests that stretch across the northwestern states.

Amnesty International condemned the abductions in Kaduna.

"Schools should be places of safety, and no child should have to choose between their education and their life," the rights group said.

"The Nigerian authorities must take measures immediately to prevent attacks on schools, to protect children's lives and their right to education."