The schoolgirls were taken from their shelters by gunmen who attacked the girls high school of the Jangebe city government, a senior government official with knowledge of the incident told CNN.
According to the source, a police officer died in the attack, who did not want to be named as he was not allowed to speak in the records.
“They got on about 20 motorcycles and the kidnapped girls left in the woods,” the source said. “The bandits arrived at around 1.45 in the morning and worked until three in the morning
“The saddest thing is that there is a military checkpoint that is about four minutes from the school,” he added.
There are usually about 500 students in the boarding school, of whom about 315 were taken by the gunmen. Others managed to escape and return to their hostels, the source said.
A state police spokesman told CNN that a detailed statement would be posted as they picked up what happened. He declined to comment on the number of students abducted in the incident.
The latest abduction comes just two weeks after at least 42 people, including students, were abducted in a similar raid on a public school in the state of Niger, in the Middle Belt region of Nigeria. One student was killed in the attack, while 27 students, three teachers and nine family members were abducted. Its current whereabouts are unknown.
UNICEF on Friday was concerned about reports of the attack overnight.
“We are angry and saddened by another brutal attack on Nigerian schoolchildren,” said Peter Hawkins, UNICEF Representative in Nigeria.
“This is a serious violation of children’s rights and a horrible experience that children can have, which could have lasting effects on their mental health and well-being. We fully condemn the attack and call on those responsible to release the girls. immediately and for the government to take steps to ensure their safe and secure freedom for the rest of Nigeria’s schoolchildren.
“Children should feel safe at home and at school at all times, and parents should not worry about the safety of their children when they are sent to school in the morning,” Hawkins said.
Many parents are concerned about the safety of their children in schools in northern Nigeria.
The most important of the school abduction cases in the country was that of the Chibok schoolgirls who were abducted by Boko Haram in April 2014.