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)
A group of armed Boko Haram fighters stormed a school in the town of Lassa, Borno state, northeast Nigeria, early on Thursday morning, abducting a significant number of students during a biology examination. Local authorities confirmed the attack, which left one teacher dead and triggered a security pursuit.
The assailants arrived on motorcycles, blending in with the crowd attending the weekly market in Lassa to infiltrate the area. Borno state police spokesman Nahum Kenneth Daso reported the raid, noting that the attackers forced their way into the public secondary school compound and seized many pupils.
Security forces immediately launched a search operation. Deputy commander of Operation Hadin Kai, Mohammed Musa Goni, stated that during a clash with the militants near the village of Daggu, one soldier was killed. In the same operation, ten students were rescued. According to Goni, the freed students are in stable condition and receiving medical and psychological support. The search continues for the remaining hostages, and efforts are under way to apprehend those responsible.
Boko Haram has been waging an armed insurgency in northeast Nigeria since the early 2000s. Since 2009, the conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives. The group has expanded its attacks into neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger, where violence in the Lake Chad basin has killed at least 2,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians.
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