Nigeria school attack - Empty classrooms in Papiri after abduction of more than 300 students, teachers

Hundreds of school children and a dozen teachers were abducted when armed men reportedly stormed Saint Mary's Catholic School in Nigeria's Papiri.

Footage shows empty classrooms littered with overturned textbooks, abandoned shoes, and scattered belongings following the attack.

"We all thought the footsteps we heard were from cows, until our sister peeped outside and saw that it was actually a large group of children," security guard Abdul-Hamid Idris recalled.

"We could clearly see them being beaten whenever they tried to sit or run," he continued.

Parents said the assault has devastated a community that already struggles with insecurity, adding that "Taking a child to the city is not easy [...] it would be the end of the education for some children."

"Most of the parents are not likely to take their children again back to that school," he commented.

According to local reports, the attack unfolded early Friday in the remote Papiri community, becoming one of the worst cases of abductions since the 2014 Chibok town abduction.

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) also reported that 50 abducted pupils from a Catholic school in Niger state have escaped and been reunited with their families.

The incident came just days after gunmen abducted 25 schoolgirls from a secondary school in nearby Kebbi state. No group has claimed responsibility for either attack at the time of publication.

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