This week, armed men abducted 215 schoolgirls and 12 teachers from a Catholic school in central Nigeria, officials said on Friday, according to LETA citing AFP.
The abduction took place at St. Mary's School in the Agwara area of Niger State, reported the spokesperson for the Christian Association of Nigeria.
This is the second case of schoolgirls being kidnapped this week. On Monday, armed men stormed a secondary school in Kebbi State in northwestern Nigeria and abducted 25 students.
Amid growing security concerns, the authorities in Katsina and Plateau States ordered the closure of all schools as a precaution.
Many schools have also been closed by the Niger State government. To address the crisis, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu canceled his participation in international events, including the G20 summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Both abductions and an attack on a church in western Nigeria, which resulted in the deaths of two people on Tuesday, occurred after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened military intervention in response to the killings of Christians in Nigeria.
Nigeria has yet to recover from the abduction of nearly 300 girls by the jihadist group Boko Haram in the town of Chibok in Borno State. Some of these girls spent several years in captivity.
