The attackers were carrying “sophisticated weapons and fired sporadically” when they stormed the school early Monday, police said in a statement. A security guard was also injured in the attack.
Police were sent to the scene, but by then the perpetrators, who are said to belong to a criminal gang, had already broken through the fence and taken 25 students from their accommodation to an unknown location, according to the statement.
Military, police units and local civic guards are now searching the area in search of the students.
Kidnappings of schoolchildren for ransom are a regular occurrence in northern Nigeria, where several armed criminal groups operate. Northwestern Nigeria has long been plagued by gangs who also loot villages, steal livestock and burn down houses.
