303 children abducted from Nigerian school

Abuja (Nigeria): A total of 303 schoolchildren and 12 teachers were abducted by gunmen during an attack on St Mary's School, a Catholic institution in north-central Nigeria's Niger state, the Christian Association of Nigeria said on Saturday, updating an earlier tally of 215 schoolchildren.

The tally was changed “after a verification exercise and a final census was carried out,” according to a statement issued by the Most Rev Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, chairman of the Niger state chapter of CAN.

He said 88 other students “were also captured after they tried to escape” during the attack. The students were both male and female and ranged in age from 10 to 18.