Gunmen storm Nigerian school, kidnap students

Unidentified gunmen attacked a secondary school in Nigeria's Niger state early on Wednesday and abducted many students, the state governor's spokeswoman said. The attackers stormed the Government Science college in Kagara district around 2 a.m., overwhelming the school's security detail, local residents said. The spokeswoman said a mass abduction of students had occurred, without specifying how many had been taken.

Unidentified gunmen attacked a secondary school in Nigeria's Niger state early on Wednesday and abducted many students, the state governor's spokeswoman said. The attackers stormed the Government Science college in Kagara district around 2 a.m., overwhelming the school's security detail, local residents said.

The spokeswoman said a mass abduction of students had occurred, without specifying how many had been taken. It was not immediately clear who had taken them. While the militant Islamist group Boko Haram and a branch of Islamic State are active in northern Nigeria, kidnappings by other armed groups - mostly for ransom - are also common.

About 100 of more than 270 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram from the town of Chibok in 2014 remain in captivity.