Suspected Boko Haram insurgents have attacked a primary and junior secondary school in Mussa village, Askira-Uba LGA, Borno State, and abducted an unspecified number of students.
The attack happened Friday morning shortly after soldiers left the town, residents said. The gunmen arrived in large numbers on motorcycles and forced their way into the school.
“Yes, the attack happened early hours of today and it was discovered that many children were abducted,” one resident told Daily Trust. The outlet said it could not independently verify the exact number of children taken.
Deputy Speaker of the Borno State House of Assembly, Hon. Abdullahi Askira, confirmed the attack but did not confirm abductions. He said many students fled into the bush and that details remained sketchy.
“The insurgents struck a few minutes after troops on patrol left the community. This signifies that the attackers were spying on the movement of troops before they struck,” Askira said.
Social media posts from the area called for prayers, with one user writing that “school children were affected.”
Efforts to reach Borno police spokesman Nahum Kenneth Daso were unsuccessful at the time of reporting.
