Report: more than 300 Catholics kidnapped in latest abduction in Nigeria

(AFP) A Christian association said Saturday the number of students and teachers abducted from a Catholic school in central Nigeria has risen to 315, a sharp increase from the initial count of 227.

It is the second kidnapping this week at a school in the African country, threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump with military intervention over an alleged campaign of jihadist violence against Christians.

According to the Christian Association of Nigeria, assailants at St. Mary's Primary and Secondary School in Niger state on Friday took "303 students and 12 teachers."

According to the Christian Association of Nigeria, assailants abducted "303 students and 12 teachers" from St. Mary's Primary and Secondary School in Niger state on Friday.

On Monday, a group of armed men had abducted 25 female pupils from a secondary school in neighboring Kebbi state in northwestern Nigeria.

These events, coupled with an attack on a church this week, put leaders in Africa's most populous country on alert.

Authorities in the neighboring states of Katsina and Plateau ordered the closure of all schools as a precautionary measure. The Niger state government also decreed the closure of many educational centers.

And President Bola Tinubu canceled his international commitments, including his participation in the G20 summit in South Africa, to manage the crisis.

More than a decade ago, Boko Haram jihadists abducted nearly 300 girls in Chibok, in northeastern Nigeria. The wounds from that event are still open and some of those girls remain unaccounted for.