Parents wait outside the Government Science Secondary school in Kankara, in northwestern Katsina State, Nigeria on December 16, 2020. - Boko Haram on Tuesday claimed the abduction of hundreds of students, from Government Science Secondary school, looks on in Kankara, in northwestern Katsina State, Nigeria. (Photo by Kola Sulaimon / AFP)
Armed Boko Haram fighters stormed a secondary school in Lassa, a town in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state, early Thursday morning, abducting a large number of students during a biology examination. The attack occurred at a public high school, with the assailants breaching the campus and forcibly taking many pupils.
Borno state police spokesman Nahum Kenneth Daso confirmed the incident, stating that the attackers arrived on motorcycles and exploited the busy weekly market in Lassa to blend in and launch their assault. One teacher was killed in the raid, according to authorities, while several students were dragged away by the gunmen.
In response, Nigerian security forces initiated a pursuit operation. Deputy commander of Operation Hadin Kai, Mohammed Musa Goni, reported that a soldier was killed in a firefight with the assailants near the village of Daggu. He also announced that ten students had been rescued during the operation, with their health condition described as satisfactory. The rescued students are receiving medical and psychological support, and search efforts continue for the remaining hostages as well as the perpetrators.
Boko Haram has been active in northeastern Nigeria since the early 2000s, waging an armed insurgency that has killed tens of thousands since 2009. The group has also expanded its attacks into Cameroon, Chad, and Niger, contributing to violence across the Lake Chad basin that has claimed at least 2,000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians.
