Nigeria's Kaduna state governor informed BBC News that approximately 28 out of nearly 300 schoolchildren abducted by gunmen have managed to escape.

The Nigerian army is spearheading an intensive search for the abducted children, who were taken in the northern town of Kuriga last Thursday. Troops, along with police and local search teams, are scouring the forests across Kaduna and neighboring states.

This incident marks the largest mass abduction from a school since 2021. Groups of armed men on motorcycles abducted close to 300 primary and secondary school children aged between eight and 15, as reported by school authorities and parents. Nearly every family in the town is believed to have a child among the kidnapped.

Sadly, one pupil, believed to be 14 years old and who had been injured by the gunmen, has passed away while receiving treatment in the hospital.

These abductions occurred following the kidnapping of women and children from a remote town in Borno state the day before.

Kaduna state governor Uba Sani told the BBC the lack of boots on the ground was the main reason for increased kidnappings in the area.

Parents and relatives of the abducted children have formed vigilante groups and are seeking help from neighboring communities on the whereabouts of the children.

Nigeria's Vice President Kashim Shettima is visiting Kaduna and is due to meet the governor.

President Bola Tinubu said on social media he was confident the victims will be rescued.

He tweeted: "Nothing else is acceptable to me and the waiting family members of these abducted citizens. Justice will be decisively administered."

Searches are also being made in Katsina and Zamfara states.

The Kaduna mass abduction has evoked memories of the nearly 300 girls in Nigeria's north-eastern town of Chibok in 2014.

In parts of northern Nigeria, parents are becoming weary of allowing their children to go to school over fear for their safety.

Kidnappings for ransom by armed men have become endemic in northern Nigeria, keeping thousands of children from attending school.

The last major abduction involving school children in Kaduna was in July 2021 when gunmen took more than 150 students.

The students were re-united months later after their families had paid ransoms.

In 2022, Nigeria passed a law banning ransom payments to kidnappers and imposed a 15-year jail term for making them.

It also made abduction punishable by death in cases where victims die.

Too bad