Gunmen Attack Girls’ School in Kebbi State, Kill Vice Principal and Abduct 25 Students

Gunmen launched a deadly pre-dawn assault on a government girls’ boarding school in Nigeria’s Kebbi State on Monday, killing a vice principal and abducting 25 female students, according to police.

The attackers, armed with rifles and reportedly operating in a coordinated manner, stormed the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga, Danko-Wasagu Local Government Area, at about 4 a.m. Police spokesperson Nafiu Abubakar Kotarkoshi said officers engaged the assailants in a brief shootout, but the gunmen managed to breach the school’s perimeter fence and seize the students.

Vice Principal Hassan Yakubu Makuku was shot and killed while attempting to confront the intruders. Another staff member sustained gunshot injuries.

Security agencies — including police tactical units, soldiers and local vigilante teams — have since launched a massive search-and-rescue operation, combing suspected escape routes and surrounding forests.

This latest attack adds to a troubling pattern of school kidnappings in Nigeria’s northwest, where armed gangs continue to target educational institutions despite repeated government assurances of improved security.

Nigeria has a painful history with school abductions. In 2014, Boko Haram militants kidnapped 270 schoolgirls from Chibok in Borno State — an incident that drew global outrage. While many of those girls have since been rescued or released, several remain missing.

Authorities in Kebbi State say efforts are ongoing to secure the safe return of the abducted students.