The school's vice president was shot dead and a security guard was injured. Authorities were combing the surrounding forests and possible escape routes in Kebbi state for the "bandits."Gunmen kidnapped 25 female students and killed the vice principal of a secondary school in Kebbi state in northwestern Nigeria Monday, police said. Nigeria's northwest has seen repeated kidnappings from schools in recent years by armed gangs seeking ransom. What do we know about the raid at the school in Kebbi state? Police said that the attackers had "sophisticated weapons" and were "shooting sporadically" during the raid. They "stormed the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School" at around 4 a.m. local time (0300 UTC), according to the statement. Police officers were deployed to the scene, but the statement stressed: "Unfortunately, the suspected bandits had already scaled through the fence of the school and abducted twenty-five students from their hostel to [an] unknown destination]." A report said that the school's vice principal was shot dead while resisting the attack and a security guard was injured. Police said officers, including additional tactical units, were searching for the gunmen in possible escape routes and forests near the school with the help of the military and local vigilantes. 'Bandits' carry out kidnappings, killings in northern Nigeria Northwestern Nigeria has for the years been the site of attacks by criminal gangs known locally as "bandits," who have been known to loot and burn homes, steal cattle, as well as carrying out kidnappings and killings. In March 2024, some 130 schoolchildren were kidnapped in Kuriga in the northwestern state of Kaduna. Northern Nigeria's most infamous kidnapping event was carried out in 2014 by the Islamist terror group Boko Haram, which abducted 276 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok. While many of the students escaped or were later released, around 100 of them are still missing. According to a 2024 report by Save the Children, over 1,680 students were kidnapped from Nigerian schools in the period of 2014-2022. Editor: Wesley Rahn