Gunmen stormed a church service in the eastern state of Kwara, killing two people in an attack that came just days after a gang kidnapped more than two dozen school girls in a separate state.
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Nigerian armed forces are searching for the 24 schoolgirls abducted from a secondary school in the northwestern town of Maga in the western state of Kebbi during the night of Sunday to Monday.
One girl managed to escape, authorities said, but the school’s vice-principal was killed.
Kwara state government directed the closure of schools in four areas as part of steps to “address recent security breaches”, state government spokesman Ibraheem Abdullateef, told AFP.
“This decision was taken to checkmate kidnappers who may want to use schoolchildren as soft targets and human shields amidst a renewed crackdown on their hideouts by the security operatives,” he said.
He said schools will be reopened “as soon as the government receives security clearance for their operation”
Nigerian security forces have been placed on high alert, the information minister said this week, as the country faces an uncomfortable spotlight on its security situation.
The church attack and girls’ abduction come after US President Donald Trump this month threatened military action over what he described as the killing of Nigeria’s Christians, a narrative rejected by the Nigerian government.
AFP