Abuja, Nigeria – Nigeria suffered its second mass school abduction this week with authorities confirming an attack on a Catholic school in the conflict-battered northern region of the country on Friday.

A total of 303 schoolchildren and 12 teachers were abducted in Friday's attack at St. Mary’s School in Niger state's Papiri community. It wasn’t immediately confirmed who the attackers were. Local police said they have deployed a team to rescue the children.

Friday's attack happened four days after 25 students were abducted in neighboring Kebbi state.

Niger state closed all its schools following the latest abduction.

School kidnappings have come to define insecurity in Africa’s most populous nation, and analysts say it's often because armed gangs see schools as “strategic” targets to d

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