At least 50 students who were abducted from a Catholic school in north-western Nigeria have managed to escape their kidnappers, church authorities confirmed on Sunday, offering a glimmer of hope amid an escalating wave of school attacks across the region.
The children fled their captors between Friday evening and Saturday morning and have since been safely reunited with their families, according to Bishop Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Zamfara State and proprietor of the attacked school.
However, more than 250 other pupils and a dozen staff members from St Mary’s Catholic School remain in captivity following the armed raid that took place on Friday.
The large-scale abduction is the latest in a series of attacks on educational institutions in northern Nigeria this month, prompting authorities to order the temporary closure of 47 schools across several states as a precautionary measure.
In Rome, Pope Leo XIV used his Sunday Angelus address in St Peter’s Square to call for the immediate and unconditional release of all those still being held.
“I renew my heartfelt appeal for the kidnapped children and their teachers to be freed without delay,” the pontiff told thousands of pilgrims.
Mass kidnappings for ransom have become a recurring security challenge in parts of Nigeria, particularly in the north-west, where armed criminal gangs operate with near impunity in remote areas.
Schools have increasingly become targets despite previous high-profile abductions that drew international condemnation.
Local and federal authorities say efforts are ongoing to secure the release of the remaining hostages and bring the perpetrators to justice.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack.
