Nigeria: Schoolgirl escapes and is safe after dozens kidnapped from dorms

A schoolgirl who was one of 25 abducted from their dormitories by gunmen in Nigeria on Monday is back home and safe after escaping.

She arrived home late the same day, hours after the group was kidnapped from the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School, its principal Musa Rabi Magaji said.

The school's head said another student, who was not among those confirmed abducted, also escaped in the minutes after the attack, which happened at 4am local time (3am UK time) and left the vice-principal Hassan Yakubu Makuku dead and another staff member injured.

Mr Magaji said of the children: "One is part of the 25 abducted (and) the other one returned earlier. They are safe and sound."

Rescue efforts

Security forces, meanwhile, have intensified efforts to rescue the other girls.

Police spokesperson Nafi'u Abubakar Kotarkoshi said on Monday the assailants were armed with "sophisticated weapons" and exchanged fire with guards before abducting the girls.

He said teams were searching for suspected escape routes and surrounding forests to find the abducted students and perpetrators.

The boarding school is in Maga, in Kebbi state's Danko-Wasagu area.

No group has claimed responsibility for the abductions.

Previous attacks

The incident is the latest school abduction in Nigeria's northern region, where armed groups have been targeting schoolchildren for more than a decade.

But there has been a rise in attacks by different armed groups in northern Nigeria this year.

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In 2014, militant group Boko Haram abducted 276 students from a secondary school in Chibok. Many remain missing.

Sometimes children are released by their abductors or rescued by authorities.

Last year, authorities managed to rescue 137 hostages more than two weeks after they were taken. Yet even in this case, more than half of those taken were presumed to still be held by the captors.

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