Yahoo Finance Gunmen kill police officer and kidnap more than 80 students from Nigerian school
A police officer has been killed and at least 80 students and five teachers kidnapped by gunmen from a school in Nigeria.
The attack took place at a federal government college in the Nigerian state of Kebbi on Thursday.
Atiku Aboki, a resident who went to the school shortly after the gunfire stopped, said he saw a scene of panic and confusion as people searched for their children.
"When we got there we saw students crying, teachers crying, everyone is sympathising with people," he told Reuters.
"Everyone was confused. Then my brother called me (to say) that his two children have not been seen and (we) don’t know if they are among the kidnapped."
Usman Aliyu, a teacher at the school, said the gunmen took more than 80 students, most of them girls.
"They killed one of the (police officers), broke through the gate and went straight to the students’ classes," he said.
Kebbi State police spokesman Nafiu Abubakar confirmed gunmen killed one officer during an exchange and also shot a student, who was undergoing medical treatment.
Abubakar said security forces were searching a nearby forest for the abducted students and teachers.
The attack is the third mass kidnapping in three weeks in northwest Nigeria.
At the end of May, an armed gang abducted as many as 150 students from an Islamic school in the north-central Nigerian state of Niger with one person shot dead.
The worst incident this year occurred at the Government Girls Secondary School Jangebe in February, when 279 girls were abducted and later released.
Bandits seeking ransom have kidnapped more than 800 Nigerian students from their schools since December in a series of raids.
Some have been freed while others remain missing.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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