More than 300 boys still missing after attack on school in Nigeria

More than 300 schoolboys are still missing after gunmen attacked a school in Nigeria, authorities said on Sunday.

"So far we are yet to account for 333 pupils," said Aminu Masari, governor of the state of Katsina, where the attack took place. During a meeting with security officials, he said the Government Science Secondary School boarding school in the town of Kankara had 839 students. 

Masari said students who managed to escape Friday's attack have been coming out of hiding in the forest. It is unclear if the students initially hid in the forest of if they escaped from their attackers.

"Efforts are being made to ascertain the actual number of children that have been kidnapped," said Masari. No group or persons have claimed responsibility for the incident, he added.

Defence Minister and Major General Bashir Salihi-Magash, who met with the governor, said the military will pursue the attackers and rescue the students without any collateral damage.

"We will go the whole hog," said Salihi-Magash. "We have the intelligence, the information where they are and their movement and their method of operation." 

Meanwhile, the hashtag #BringBackOurBoys was trending on social media in Nigeria on Sunday as public outrage grew about an attack that initially saw 600 boys missing.

Residents of the town said gunmen had abducted the students, echoing a 2014 attack in which jihadist group Boko Haram abducted 276 girls from a school in Chibok, in northern Nigeria. At least a hundred of those girls are still missing.

As the whereabouts of the boys remains unknown, Nigerians on social media and in the opposition benches urged the government to step up its efforts to rescue the children, fearing that they could be harmed or forced to join militias.

Nigerian politicians criticized President Muhammadu Buhari - who is from the state of Katsina - for his handling of the aftermath of the attack.

Buhari arrived in the state on the same day as the attack for a seven-day holiday that coincides with a religious festival.

Reno Omokri, a spokesperson for former President Goodluck Jonathan, criticized Buhari for only issuing a statement and not visiting the school.

The opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP) said at a press conference on Saturday that the attack reinforces the perception that Buhari is mishandling of the country's security.

"The time of the attack buttresses the fact that President Buhari, as the commander-in-chief, is totally incapable of securing our nation," said the PDP's national publicity secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, noting "widespread calls by patriotic Nigerians that he should resign."

Earlier this month, lawmakers demanded that Buhari answer questions on what the what the government is doing to curb insecurity. Buhari declined, going on holiday instead.

The request followed a November attack in the northern state of Borno state, in which more than 40 farmers were killed in an attack carried out by Boko Haram.

"It is distressing that President Buhari, who refused to honour an invitation by the House of Representatives for a collective deliberation on security, could abandon his duty post for a holiday, leaving our national flanks open for terrorists, bandits, vandals, and insurgents," the PDP said in their press conference.

Schools have increasingly become a target of gunmen abducting children for ransom in Nigeria's troubled north. The region has seen years of instability, spurred by  Boko Haram's attempts to form a breakaway state, West Africa Province.

Last month, Nigeria saw nationwide protests against police brutality, that saw police open fire on dozens of protestors.    (dpa)