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More than 100 Nigerian school students have been abducted in the north-western town of Kuriga, witnesses say.<\/p>\n
The pupils were in the assembly ground around 08:30 (07:30GMT) when dozens of gunmen on motorcycles rode through the school, one witness said.<\/p>\n
The students, between the ages of eight and 15, were taken away, along with a teacher, they added.<\/p>\n
Kidnap gangs, known as bandits, have seized hundreds of people in recent years, especially the north-west.<\/p>\n
However, there had been a reduction in the mass abduction of children over the past year until this week.<\/p>\n
The eyewitness said that one pupil was shot by the gunmen and is currently receiving medical attention at the Birnin Gwari hospital.<\/p>\n
An official of the Kaduna state government confirmed the incident to the BBC but failed to give details.<\/p>\n
In January, bandits killed a school principal in the area and abducted his wife.<\/p>\n
The kidnapping comes just a day after dozens of women and children were feared kidnapped by the Boko Haram Islamist group<\/a> while they were collecting firewood in north-eastern Nigeria.<\/p>\n However the two cases of mass abductions are not thought to be related.<\/p>\n The criminal kidnap gangs bringing fear to north-western Nigeria are separate to Boko Haram in the north-east, although there have been reports that they may have worked together on occasion.<\/p>\n In an attempt to curb Nigeria’s spiralling and lucrative kidnapping industry, a controversial law that makes it a crime to make ransom payments was passed in 2022. It carries a jail sentence of at least 15 years, however no-one has ever been arrested.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, the family of a group of sisters kidnapped in the capital, Abuja, denied a police statement that the security forces had rescued the girls, saying that they had no choice but to pay the ransom<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/div>\nYou may also be interested in:<\/h3>\n