One of 25 abducted students escapes

Maga: A schoolgirl who was abducted with 24 others from a dormitory in northwestern Nigeria has escaped and is safe, the school’s principal told The Associated Press on Tuesday, as hunters joined security forces in the search for the missing students in forests close to the school.

The girls were kidnapped before dawn on Monday, when gunmen attacked the dorm at the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Kebbi state’s Maga town.

Local police said the gunmen scaled the fence to enter the school premises and exchanged gunfire with police officers before seizing the girls and killing a staff member.

The student who escaped arrived home late Monday, hours after the kidnapping, said principal Musa Rabi Magaji. Another student was able to escape the gunmen in the minutes after the raid and was not abducted, the principal told AP.

“One is part of the 25 abducted (and) the other one returned earlier,” Magaji said. “They are safe and sound.”

A video verified by AP shows the two schoolgirls, who appear to be in their early teens, lost in their thoughts and surrounded by family and other villagers, their hijabs covering their heads. High schoolers in Nigeria are usually aged between

12 and 17.