UPDATE 1-Parents pray for hundreds of students kidnapped in Nigeria's Katsina

(Adds estimate of children missing, quote and information from
Katsina spokesman and escaped boy)
KANKARA, Nigeria, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Parents converged on a
secondary school in Nigeria's northwestern Katsina state on
Sunday, begging authorities to save hundreds of boys abducted by
gunmen.
More than 300 students from the all-boys Government Science
school in Kankara taken Friday night remained missing on Sunday.
"We will not rest until we see the end of this," state
spokesman Abdul Labaran told Reuters.
Labaran said military and intelligence chiefs were in
Kankara to lead the rescue. While 321 students were missing, he
said some could have gone home to other states.
All state schools in Katsina were ordered to close because
officials did not know the attackers' motives, the education
commissioner said.
Abubakar Lawal came from Zaria, a city 120 kilometres (75
miles) south of Kanara. Two of his three sons at the school were
among the missing.
"From yesterday I was here, praying that the almighty Allah
should rescue our people," he said outside the dusty school
grounds.
One of his missing sons, 17-year-old Buhari, was named after
President Muhammadu Buhari, a native of Katsina state.
Yahaya, 17, told Reuters he escaped on Saturday. He gave
only one name for fear of reprisals. He said he sneaked away
while the kidnappers transferred students to different locations
in the forest.
"We met someone with motorcycle who brought us to a nearby
village," He said. "From there someone bought us to Kankara."
He said group leaders told the men not to harm them.
Attacks by armed gangs, widely known as bandits, are common
throughout northwestern Nigeria. The groups attack civilians,
stealing or kidnapping them for ransom. Islamist militants are
more common in the northeast.
There is growing anger with the precarious security
situation in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation. Late last
month, Islamist militants killed scores of farmers in
northeastern Borno, beheading some of them.