Abuja: More than 200 schoolchildren and 12 teachers were abducted in the early hours of Friday when armed gunmen stormed St. Mary’s Catholic School in the Papiri community of Niger state, marking one of the largest mass kidnappings in recent years.

The Niger State Police Command confirmed the abductions and said military and security forces have since been deployed to the community. The school, identified as a secondary institution serving children between the ages of 12 and 17, was attacked before dawn.

The incident unfolded against the backdrop of heightened global attention following US President Donald Trump's recent warning that he may intervene militarily to end what he described as a “Christian genocide” in Nigeria — a claim the government has firmly denied.

Abubakar Usman, Secretary to the Niger State Government, expressed outrage over the attack in a statement, saying: “The Niger state government has received with deep sadness the disturbing news of the kidnapping of pupils from St Mary’s School in Agwara local government area.”

Niger is the largest of Nigeria’s 36 states, stretching west from Abuja to the border with Benin. Friday’s mass abduction is the third documented large-scale school kidnapping in Niger state within the last decade. In the previous attack in May 2021, 135 pupils were taken from an Islamic seminary, and six were later reported to have died while in captivity.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, continues to struggle with overlapping security crises — including armed banditry, insurgency and widespread kidnapping-for-ransom across central and northern regions.

Satellite imagery shows the St. Mary’s compound linked to a neighbouring primary school, containing more than 50 classrooms and dormitory buildings near a major highway between Yelwa and Mokwa.

The state government revealed that the attack occurred despite advance intelligence warning of increased threats in the area. The statement added: “Regrettably, St. Mary's School proceeded to reopen and resume academic activities without notifying or seeking clearance from the State Government, thereby exposing pupils and the staff to avoidable risk.”