Nigeria kidnappings: Rescue efforts ongoing after gunmen kidnap scores of students

“The rescue operation continues,” Jalige said earlier on Monday. “We are liaising with the school’s management to get the exact number of people that were kidnapped.”

Reports of nurse kidnapped with baby

This raid followed a similar attack on a federal medical facility in the city of Zaria, located less than two hours from Chikun, in the early hours of Sunday.

Jalige said about eight people were kidnapped by an armed gang from the National Center for Tuberculosis and Leprosy Quarters in Zaria. The police spokesman could not immediately confirm multiple reports that some of those abducted from the medical facility were nurses and a baby.

A hospital spokesperson told Reuters that six people had been abducted in that raid. They were two nurses, one with her 1-year-old child, a laboratory technician, a security guard and one other staff member, according to the spokesperson.

Jalige told CNN that during the hospital attack, another group of gunmen “attempted to overrun” a police base in the area but were swiftly repelled, adding that a rescue team was working to ensure the release of those abducted.

Kidnappings for ransom have escalated in northern Nigeria, where hundreds of schoolchildren have been taken since December. Kaduna, which is fast becoming the epicenter of school abductions in northern Nigeria, has witnessed a string of kidnappings since January.

Five students from Greenfield University in Kaduna were killed by their captors shortly after their abduction in late April. Some schools in Nigeria’s northern region have been temporarily shut down to avoid further attacks.