Empty beds at school where 315 students and teachers were abducted by gunmen

Gunmen have kidnapped more than 300 children from a school in Nigeria – a figure much larger than initially estimated.

Beds were emptied and belongings strewn across the classroom floors after 303 school children and 12 teachers were taken during an attack on St Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, Niger.

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) initially estimated 215 children were taken on Friday, but that figure increased following a ‘verification exercise and a final census’.

Around 88 other pupils aged between 10 and 18 were ‘also captured after they tried to escape’ during the attack, according to chairman Rev Bulus Dauwa Yohanna. Locals described their shock at the kidnappings, with some criticising the country’s security measures.

Dominic Adamu, whose daughters attend St Mary’s