Seven students kidnapped in Nigeria by criminal gang

A member of a suspected terror group displays a gun. [AFP]

A criminal gang abducted seven students in northwestern Nigeria, police said on Wednesday, the latest in a scourge of kidnappings in poorly policed rural areas.

Armed gangs, referred to as bandits by security agencies and locals, are blamed for raiding remote villages, looting and razing homes and kidnapping people for ransom, especially in parts of northwestern and central Nigeria.

Assailants stormed student housing on Tuesday night on the outskirts of the Kaura Namoda administrative area, where the Federal Polytechnic was located, Zamfara state police spokesperson Yazid Abubakar said.

The bandits "kidnapped seven students and took them to an unknown location", eluding security forces that were sent to the scene, Abubakar said in a statement.

One of the kidnapped students managed to escape and was found to be safe, while the search continues for other victims, police added.

The kidnapping renewed fears over insufficient security at schools.

Hundreds of teachers in major Nigerian cities this week protested a string of kidnappings and attacks targeting schools by armed groups.

Last month, gunmen abducted at least 46 pupils and staff from three schools in the southwestern state of Oyo, in an attack the army said was carried out by jihadists.

At least 42 more -- including schoolchildren as young as two years old -- were taken from their schools in northeastern Borno state the same day.

A series of mass school kidnappings in the final quarter of 2025 -- including the abduction of about 24 schoolgirls in Kebbi state in November and the seizure of roughly 300 students and several teachers in Niger state the same month -- drew renewed international attention to insecurity in the country.