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Toll Rises to 315 in Niger State School Abduction as Search Intensifies

Rescue teams are combing forests near Papiri, with no claim of responsibility.

Overview

  • Church leaders revised the tally to 303 students and 12 teachers after a verification exercise that found 88 more were seized while trying to flee.
  • Police, military units and local hunters have been deployed, and authorities say operations to locate the captives are ongoing in surrounding forests.
  • Federal and state officials ordered precautionary closures, including 47 federal boarding schools, with multiple states shutting campuses.
  • President Bola Tinubu canceled international travel as U.S. officials discussed possible sanctions and counterterrorism support with Nigeria’s security leadership.
  • The raid at St. Mary’s follows the abduction of 25 girls in Kebbi and an attack on a church in Kwara; those taken from the Catholic school are boys and girls aged roughly 10 to 18, nearly half its 629 enrollment.