Two of the 25 female students abducted from Government Girls Secondary School in the Maga area of Kebbi State have escaped from their captors, according to local officials quoted by the BBC.
Hussaini Aliyu, an official in Danko Wasagu local government area, told the broadcaster that the students fled as the gunmen were moving them through the bush and managed to run across nearby farmland. He said both girls were safe, though one required medical care after injuring her leg while escaping.
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Armed men attacked the boarding school early Monday and seized the students. During the raid, Vice Principal Hassan Makuku was shot and killed, police spokesman Nafi’u Kotarkoshi said. A security guard, Ali Shehu, was also wounded and later died in hospital, according to the BBC.
Information Minister Mohammed Idris said President Bola Tinubu has ordered security forces to move swiftly to rescue the remaining students. Tinubu condemned the attack and reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to protecting schoolchildren, Idris said.
Kebbi State police commissioner Bello Muhammad Sani said additional tactical units, soldiers and local vigilantes have been deployed. The combined team is combing forested areas and suspected escape routes in a coordinated search-and-rescue operation.
