UPDATE 6-Gunmen kill student, kidnap 42 in attack on Nigerian school

* Kidnapping for ransom common in parts of northern Nigeria
* President sends security chiefs to coordinate rescue
* Nearly 350 pupils abducted in northwest state in December

(Adds Amnesty International comment, details on incident)
By Ardo Hazzad and Garba Muhammad
BAUCHI/KADUNA, Nigeria, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Unidentified
gunmen killed a student in an overnight attack on a boarding
school in the north-central Nigerian state of Niger on Wednesday
and kidnapped 42 people including 27 students, the state
governor said.
The assailants stormed the Government Science secondary
school in the Kagara district of Niger state at around 2 a.m.,
overwhelming the school's security detail, Governor Abubakar
Sani Bello said.
"Twenty-seven students, three staff and 12 members of their
families were kidnapped. Unfortunately, one student was shot
dead," he told a news conference.
Aliyu Isa, a teacher, told local TV news station Channels
that the abductors were dressed in army uniforms and shooting as
they broke into the school.
"They were telling the students not to run," added Isa, who
said he and others fled in the confusion while the gunmen
rounded up some of the pupils.
It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the
latest abduction. Kidnappings for ransom by armed groups are
common across many northern Nigerian states.
The attack came two months after gunmen stormed a secondary
school in northwestern Katsina state and kidnapped nearly 350
boys, who were subsequently rescued by security
forces. Rights group Amnesty International said in a statement that
education is "under attack" in northern Nigeria.
"The Nigerian authorities must act immediately to prevent
attacks on schools, to protect children's lives and their right
to education," the group added.
Militant Islamist group Boko Haram and a branch of Islamic
State also carry out abductions in Nigeria's turbulent
northeast. About 100 of more than 270 schoolgirls abducted by
Boko Haram from the town of Chibok in 2014 remain missing.
In the wake of Wednesday's attack, the Niger state governor
ordered the immediate closure of boarding schools in the region.
President Muhammadu Buhari dispatched security chiefs to
coordinate rescue operations, his spokesman Garba Shehu said in
a statement.
"President Buhari has (given assurance) of the support of
his administration to the armed forces in their brave struggle
against terrorism and banditry and urged them to do all that can
be done to bring an end to this saga," Shehu said.
The Nigerian army said in a statement that it has mobilized
troops who are pursuing the abductors. And the country's police
chief said his force was working with the Department of State
Security to reinforce security in the area where the abduction
took place.
The recent attacks have raised concern about rising violence
by armed gangs and Islamist insurgents, fuelling criticism of
Buhari's handling of national security. In January, the
president appointed a new military high command.
Violence and insecurity have compounded the economic
challenges faced by citizens in Africa's most populous country,
which is struggling to cope with a fall in revenues due to an
oil price slump on top of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Nigeria's president calls for calm after clashes in southwest
Oyo state police beat, arrest protesters at site of Lekki
shootings will die in the forest' - Nigerian schoolboys describe
kidnap ordeal ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>