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Gunmen have seized in excess of 300 pupils and educators in what is considered the most significant collective seizures in modern Nigerian history, according to a Christian organization on Saturday.

Escalating Emergency in Educational Facilities

The Friday morning raid on St Mary's co-educational school in Niger state happened just days after gunmen stormed a high school in neighboring Kebbi state, seizing 25 young women.

Earlier accounts had indicated 227 individuals were taken, but new numbers were released after a comprehensive assessment determined that 303 students and 12 teachers had been kidnapped.

The taken students, aged between eight and 18 years, constitute nearly 50 percent of the school's total student population of 629.

Official Response and Safety Measures

State authorities have announced that intelligence agencies and law enforcement are currently performing a comprehensive head count to determine the precise number of missing people.

In response to the increasing security concerns, the state government has directed the shutting of every schools in the state, with nearby states adopting similar precautionary measures.

Furthermore, the national education department has directed the provisional shutting of 47 residential high schools throughout the country.

President Bola Tinubu has cancelled overseas commitments, including attendance at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, to concentrate on addressing the situation.

Latest Violent Events

The school abductions represent the most recent in a sequence of security incidents that have rocked the nation, 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 taken place against the backdrop of global focus on Nigeria's safety situation.

Past Background

Nigeria remains traumatized by the memory of the mass kidnapping of almost 300 schoolgirls by jihadist group Boko Haram in Chibok over a ten years ago, with several of those victims still missing.

Eyewitness Accounts

In a concerning recording shared by religious groups, a upset employee described hearing the noise of bikes and vehicles before experiencing "forceful banging" on various gates of the school premises.

"Children were screaming," the staff member stated, describing her terror while searching for keys to the area where the crying was loudest.

The local Catholic diocese confirmed that the "attackers acted violently and uninterrupted for nearly three hours, searching sleeping quarters."

Public Response and Fears

At the same time, about 600km away on the outskirts of Abuja, concerned guardians were picking up their students from schools following the closure order.

One mother, a 40-year-old healthcare worker, expressed her shock at the magnitude of the abduction, questioning how 300 students could be abducted at once.

She concluded that the "authorities is not doing enough to combat insecurity," and voiced support for external intervention to "salvage this crisis."

Ongoing Safety Challenges

For years, heavily armed bandit groups have been carrying out murders and kidnappings for ransom in rural areas of northern and central Nigeria, where government control is minimal.

While nobody has taken credit for the latest attacks, criminal groups seeking financial compensation often target schools in rural areas where protection is weak.

These groups maintain bases in vast forest areas straddling multiple states in the west of Nigeria.

Although these criminals have no ideological leanings and are mainly driven by monetary profit, their growing cooperation with extremist groups from the north-east has become a major source of worry for officials and security analysts alike.