Bandits have reportedly attacked a government primary school at Kuriga community of the Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State, abducting scores of pupils.
The community is located along the Kaduna Birnin-Gwari Road which has been terrorised by bandits for many years.
The police authorities and the Kaduna State government are yet to confirm the incident but a local source told Channels Television that the bandits invaded the school at 8:30 am on Thursday, and took away many pupils including the head teacher.
He said that many students sustained injuries as they attempted to flee the school on sighting the bandits.
Bandit attacks in the North-West part of the country have been on the increase in recent times, with residents taking to the streets to protest the ugly trend.
On Tuesday, residents of the Kankara Local Government Area in Katsina State embarked on yet another protest over the incessant bandit attacks in their community.
The abduction of schoolchildren in Nigeria has reached an alarming rate with insurgents profiting from the menace, as they collect ransom to the tune of hundreds of millions to release abducted children.
Recently, some pupils and staff members of Apostolic Faith School in Ekiti State were abducted on January 29, 2024, from their school bus. They were heading to Emure-Ekiti when assailants intercepted them at Eporo-Ekiti. They later regained freedom about a week later when the driver of the bus was found dead.
The abduction of the Ekiti pupils was not the first in the series of kidnappings of schoolchildren in the country.
From Chibok to Dapchi, Kankara, Kagara, and many others in Kaduna, terrorists have in the last years seized thousands of schoolchildren in mass kidnappings that attracted global outrage.
While some of the students eventually regain freedom, others have been perpetually detained in the enclaves of their abductors and sexual abusers.