More than 11 years ago, Boko Haram fighters abducted 276 girls from their school in the town of Chibok.
Published On 18 Nov 2025
Security forces in northwest Nigeria are intensifying their efforts to find the 25 schoolgirls abducted by gunmen in an early-morning raid on their school this week.
Police said men armed with rifles stormed Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Kebbi State’s Maga town approximately 4am local time (03: 00 GMT) on Monday, arriving on motorcycles in an apparently well-planned attack.
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The attackers exchanged gunfire with police before scaling the perimeter fence and abducting the students. The assailants killed the school’s vice principal during the attack.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for abducting the girls, and their motivation was unclear.
On Tuesday, security teams swept nearby forests where gangs often hide, while others were deployed along major roads leading to the school.
Kebbi Governor Nasir Idris visited the school on Monday and assured of efforts to rescue the girls, and Lieutenant-General Waidi Shaibu, Nigeria’s chief of army staff met with soldiers in the hours after the attack and directed “intelligence-driven operations and relentless day-and-night pursuit of the abductors,” according to an army statement.
“We must find these children. Act decisively and professionally on all intelligence. Success is not optional,” Shaibu told troops during a visit to Kebbi on Tuesday. “You must continue day and night fighting.”
He urged the soldiers to “leave no stone unturned” in the search for the schoolgirls.
Monday’s raid was the second