Two hundred students of an Islamiyya school located at Tegina in Rafi local government Area of Niger State have been abducted by yet to be identified gunmen today, May 30.

Channels TV reports that one person was shot dead while another is currently in a critical state in a hospital after gunmen carried out the kidnap operation at about 4:30pm on Sunday.

A resident of the area, Zayyad Mohammed,  who confirmed the incident, said the Salihu Tanko Islamiyya school where the incident took place was built by a retired Immigration officer. According to him, this Islamiyya school is not the usual Sangaya boarding Islamic citadel, but a conventional one where parents send their children on a daily basis for the purpose of acquiring Islamic education.

Also confirming the incident, the Secretary to the Niger State Government, Ahmed Matane said the number of the abducted students is yet to be ascertained.

“Yes, there was an attack at the Islamiyya school, but we do not yet have the exact number of students that were abducted. We are in touch with parents in the area to know those whose children were abducted.”

Matane who is the chairman of the state Security committee further revealed that while the attack in Tegina was going on, there were simultaneous attacks in Lavun LGA and some fringes of Mashegu LGA.