Suspected Boko Haram insurgents have attacked a Primary and Junior Secondary School in Mussa village, Askira-Uba Local Government Area of Borno State, reportedly abducting an unspecified number of students.
Sources in the community said the assailants, who came in large numbers on motorcycles, forced their way into the school on Friday shortly after troops on patrol left the area.
A resident said many children were kidnapped during the attack, although the exact number of those abducted could not be independently verified.
“Yes, the attack happened in the early hours of today, Friday, and it was discovered that many children were abducted,” the resident said.
The Deputy Speaker of the Borno State House of Assembly, Hon. Abdullahi Askira, confirmed the attack but said details were still sketchy. He, however, declined to confirm whether students were abducted.
“Details of the attack are sketchy, but the information at my disposal has it that many of the students fled into the bush. I don’t have details of those abducted,” he said.
Askira described the incident as disheartening, noting that the insurgents struck a few minutes after troops left the community.
“This signifies that the attackers were spying on the movement of troops before they struck,” he added.
Following the attack, several residents and social media users took to Facebook to call for prayers for the affected community and the suspected abducted schoolchildren.
“Good morning, beloved. Please pray for the Mussa Boko Haram attack in Mussa village now. According to a report coming out from Mussa, schoolchildren were affected,” one user, Solomon Mussa, wrote.
Efforts to reach the spokesperson of the Borno State Police Command, Nahum Kenneth Daso, were unsuccessful, as calls and text messages sent to him were not answered at the time of filing this report.