Over 50 children kidnapped in coordinated school attacks in north-eastern Nigeria

More than 50 children have been kidnapped from three schools in Mussa town in Nigeria’s north-eastern Borno State, in a series of coordinated attacks that have sparked fresh concern over insecurity in the region, teachers and residents have said.

According to the BBC, most of the missing children are aged between two and five years old, as per eyewitness accounts and school staff familiar with the incident.

Residents said the attacks occurred on Friday morning, when armed assailants stormed the town and targeted three separate learning institutions: the Government Day Secondary School, Mussa Central Primary School, and a State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) Primary School.

Eyewitnesses who witnessed the raid described a chaotic scene in which the gunmen moved swiftly between the schools before escaping with the abducted children.

“They used the children as human shields while fleeing on motorbikes, preventing security forces from opening fire,” one resident said, describing how the attackers leveraged the captives to avoid confrontation with responding security personnel.

The coordinated nature of the raids across multiple schools has raised fears among locals of an increasingly emboldened armed group operating in the region, which has long been affected by insurgency and mass abductions targeting civilians and educational institutions.

Authorities have not yet confirmed the exact number of abducted children, but teachers and residents estimate that more than 50 minors are missing following the attacks.

No group has claimed responsibility for the kidnappings so far, and government officials have yet to respond to requests for comment from international media.

Security forces were reported to have been deployed to the area following the incident, but details on rescue operations or arrests remain unclear.

The latest abductions add to a troubling pattern of school attacks in north-eastern Nigeria, where armed groups have repeatedly targeted students in mass kidnappings, raising concerns over the safety of learning institutions and the broader humanitarian situation in the region.