Hundreds of schoolchildren and more than a dozen teachers were abducted after armed men stormed Saint Mary’s Catholic School in Nigeria’s remote Papiri community, one of the worst mass kidnappings since the 2014 Chibok abductions. Footage from inside the school shows overturned desks, scattered books, abandoned footwear and classrooms left eerily silent after the attack.
Security guard Abdul-Hamid Idris recalled hearing footsteps that he initially mistook for cattle before realizing a large group of children was being forced away at gunpoint. He described seeing the abducted students beaten whenever they slowed down or tried to flee.
Parents say the attack has shattered a community already battling persistent insecurity, warning that many may now pull their children from school entirely. “It would be the end of education for some children,” one parent said, noting that families already struggle to access schooling in the region.
Local reports say the attack unfolded early Friday and that dozens of students were taken into nearby bushland. In a separate incident, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) confirmed that 50 abducted pupils from another Catholic school in Niger state have escaped and reunited with their families.
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