JAKARTA - Nigerian leaders have promised authorities will intensify efforts to rescue 24 female students kidnapped by gunmen earlier this week from schools in the northwest of the volatile country.
The students were kidnapped from their dormitories on Monday, when gunmen attacked their dormitory school in Maga city in the state of Kebbi, Nigeria.
Local police said gunmen climbed the fence to enter the dormitories and were involved in a shootout with police officers guarding the school before arresting the students and killing a staff.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but analysts and local residents say gangs often target remote schools, travelers and villagers in kidnapping for ransom.
Authorities say the gunmen are mostly former herders who have taken up arms against the farmer community after clashes between them due to limited resources.
Hawaii Usman, a 15-year-old student who was among those kidnapped, managed to escape.
"They kept moving, and when they left, I ran back to school," Usman told the Associated Press on Tuesday.
"I knocked on the principal's house, but no one answered," he said, adding that he then took shelter at a teacher's house.
The President of Tinbu Ball said he had "directed the security agency to act quickly and bring the girls back to the State of Kebbi."
Tinubu, which will depart on Wednesday for South Africa to attend the G20 summit this weekend, expressed regret that "unwitched terrorists have interfered with the education of innocent schoolchildren."
At least 1,500 students were kidnapped in the area since jihadist Boko Haram arrested 276 Chibok students more than a decade ago.
However, bandits are also active in the region, and analysts say gangs often target schools to attract attention.
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