Nigerian

Nov. 22 (UPI) — Initial reports undercounted the number of students and staff kidnapped by Nigerian gunmen from the St. Mary’s School in Papiri, Niger State, Nigeria.

The Christian Association of Nigeria’s revised number is now is 303 students and 12 staff members, for a total of 315 kidnapped on Friday.

The revised number was obtained after local officials conducted a census count to determine who was missing, Most. Rev. Bulus DauwaYohanna, CAN’s Niger State chapter chairman, announced.

The students taken were male and female and between ages 10 and 18.

School officials initially reported 215 students and staff had been taken, but 88 more were taken while trying to escape, Yohanna’s spokesman, Danial Atori, told CNN on Saturday.

Intelligence reports warned of a potential attack and, although local authorities said school officials were ordered to close all boarding facilities at the school, the order was ignored, the BBC reported.

Several state- and federally run schools in northern Nigeria closed after learning of Friday’s attack to prevent further abductions.

Local police said security agencies are “combing the forests with a view to rescue the abducted students,” the BBC reported.

The families of those abducted can only wait and hope.

“I just want them to come home,” the aunt of two kidnapped girls, ages 6 and 13, told the BBC.

The father of daughters who attend the school but were not among those taken said the attack has affected everyone.

“Everybody is weak,” Dominic Adamu said. “It took everybody by surprise.”

The number abducted surpasses the 276 who were abducted from Chibok in 2014, and the new number represents about half the students who attended the Catholic school in Papiri.

Papiri, a community in the Nigerian city of Lagos, said the revised number of students kidnapped makes the attack one of the worst in country’s history.

The attack was the third this week in Nigeria in which people were abducted.

Gunmen also attacked a government-run boarding school in Kebbi State and kidnapped 25 female students on Monday.

Gunmen also attacked a church in Kwara State, killed two people and abducted 38 others.

Two days after they were abducted from their beds by armed attackers, 24 Nigerian schoolgirls are still missing as the military intensifies its efforts to rescue them.

The Nigerian Army’s statement that Brigadier General M Uba, the Brigade Commander 25 Task Force Brigade “successfully led troops back to base” after an ambush last Friday, Nov. 14, in the Damboa area of Borno State, northeastern Nigeria, has been challenged by an exclusive, verified image obtained by HumAngle. The image shows the senior officer alive but held by insurgents, contradicting the military’s official account.

The ambush by ISWAP fighters on a joint military and Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) convoy on Biu Road resulted in the deaths of several soldiers and CJTF members, with the general’s whereabouts initially reported as unknown. HumAngle’s early report cited sources on the ground who said the general was abducted during the attack. We later reported that he had escaped on foot and returned to base, after several security sources insisted on this.

The Nigerian Army also issued a statement denying the abduction, insisting the general had safely led his men back to base and that the incident was an ambush, causing casualties but no kidnapping. However, the military provided no evidence to back this claim at the time.

A verified image HumAngle has seen shows the commander in the custody of ISWAP insurgents, with a gunshot wound to the leg. Verification was carried out through detailed frame analysis, geolocation cross-checking, and confirmation from independent security sources familiar with the region and the incident. The image, shortly after the ambush, shows the general surrounded by armed fighters, appearing fatigued but alive. 

HumAngle, in line with our editorial policies, has made the editorial decision not to publish the picture. 

This new evidence directly challenges the army’s public statement, highlighting a significant discrepancy in the information being shared about frontline realities. The contradictory accounts raise concerns about communication gaps within the military and the potential consequences of misinformation for public trust and operational security.

The capture of a serving commander marks a rare and serious development in the ongoing conflict with insurgent groups in Nigeria’s Northeast. In recent months, ISWAP has intensified attacks around Damboa and the wider Borno region, escalating the dangers faced by both military personnel and civilians.

Security analysts who reviewed the image described the abduction as both an operational setback and a symbolic blow to Nigerian forces fighting the insurgency. Families of soldiers deployed in the area have expressed frustration and anxiety over the conflicting reports about their loved ones’ safety.

Efforts to secure fresh comments from the Nigerian Army have been ongoing, but as of publication, no new statement has been issued addressing the emerging evidence.