Teacher Killed and Twenty Five Girls Abducted in Early Morning Attack on Nigerian School

A teacher has been killed and at least twenty five schoolgirls abducted after armed men stormed a girls secondary school in northwestern Nigeria, sparking a gunbattle with security personnel. The attack took place at the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in the town of Maga, located in Kebbi State, at around four in the morning on Monday.

According to police, the armed group confronted officers stationed at the school and exchanged gunfire before breaching the perimeter fence and forcing their way into the hostel where the students were sleeping. In an attempt to shield the girls, one staff member was shot and killed, while another suffered gunshot wounds and is being treated in hospital.

Residents described a large group of attackers, known locally as bandits, who arrived firing shots in the air to create panic. Witnesses told the BBC that after overpowering the security presence at the school, the gunmen marched a group of the students into the nearby bushland, disappearing before reinforcements could arrive.

Police said additional tactical units, including military personnel and local vigilante groups, have been deployed to assist with the response. A coordinated search and rescue operation is underway across surrounding forests and along multiple suspected escape routes. Authorities say the priority is to track the group quickly and secure the safe return of the abducted girls.

Over the past decade, schools across northern Nigeria have been repeatedly targeted by armed groups who use mass abductions as a means of securing ransom payments or negotiating concessions from the government. These attacks have created deep fear in rural communities and disrupted the education of thousands of children. In response, Nigeria has banned the payment of ransoms, hoping to make kidnapping less profitable, although critics say the measure has not deterred well organised criminal networks.

This latest attack is the first major school abduction reported since March two thousand twenty four, when more than two hundred pupils were taken from a school in Kuriga in Kaduna State. Despite increased military deployments and community policing initiatives, many residents say the security situation remains fragile, with heavily armed groups still able to move across remote areas with relative ease.

The incident in Kebbi State has left families in Maga devastated and fearful. Parents gathered outside the school on Monday morning desperate for news, some saying they had spent the night searching the outskirts of the town in the hope of finding their children. Community leaders have appealed for calm while urging the authorities to act swiftly and decisively.

As rescue efforts continue, the attack highlights once again the urgent need to improve rural security and protect schools across northern Nigeria. For families in Maga, the wait for answers has become a painful test of endurance as they hope for the safe return of their daughters.