“The police and the military are in control of the situation. We are trying to contact the school board to find out the exact number of students who were kidnapped and then see the possibility of rescuing them unscathed and arresting the perpetrators, ”police spokesman Kaduna Mohammed Jalige said.
Jamilu Abdullahi is a college student and told CNN that he heard the attackers shooting when they arrived around 3 am.
Abdullahi said the armed men went straight to the girls ‘hostel, although the boys’ dormitory is closest to the fence they entered.
“We saw them and ran away … the bandits came and were firing their guns and took the girls,” he said.
Although it is unclear how many students were kidnapped, Abdullahi said the number of girls who lived in that hostel was between 80 and 100.
This kidnapping is the latest in a series of similar kidnapping cases. More than 300 students were kidnapped from a school in Zamfara state, also in northwest Nigeria, earlier this month.
Kidnapping for ransom is common in parts of Nigeria and has become a major security challenge. State governors regularly pay ransoms to ensure the victims’ safety, but rarely admit to doing so.