Gunmen seized more than 50 children from three schools in Mussa, Borno State, northeastern Nigeria on Friday morning, using the young hostages as human shields to prevent security forces from opening fire as they fled on motorcycles.
Most of the abducted children are between two and five years old. Eyewitnesses described attackers loading children directly onto motorbikes before riding out of town while troops, unable to shoot without endangering the children, were forced to stand down.
Abdu Dunama, headmaster of Mussa Central Primary School, said armed men stormed his school shortly after a military patrol left the area and rounded up 34 nursery-age pupils from their classrooms. Bukar Buba, whose daughter was taken, told the BBC the gunmen struck fast: “immediately after they left, it was not up to 30 minutes after.”
The attacks targeted three institutions: the Government Day Secondary School, Mussa Central Primary School and the State Universal Basis Education Board (SUBEB) Secondary School. Senator Ali Ndume of Borno South confirmed in a Saturday press statement that at least 42 children had been taken from two of the three schools.
No group has claimed responsibility. Security analysts note the assault bears hallmarks of Boko Haram, the Islamist militant group contesting control of northeastern Nigeria against its rival faction, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
Witnesses said the gunmen fired sporadically to scatter residents before seizing children from classrooms. Some older students managed to escape into surrounding bush during the chaos. Many parents watched from a nearby hill, powerless, as their children were loaded onto motorcycles and driven away.
Nigeria’s government had not publicly responded to the incident as of Saturday. Dunama confirmed that troops are now on the ground and actively tracking the abductors.
The attack has prompted some Mussa residents to abandon the town. Others, particularly parents of missing children, say they feel compelled to stay and wait. Borno State has endured decades of militant violence, and this latest mass abduction deepens an already alarming pattern of child kidnappings across Nigeria.
