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By Nimi Princewill, Eve Brennan, CNN
(CNN) — Fifty students who were abducted from a Catholic school in northern Nigeria on Friday have returned to their families after they managed to escape, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) said on Sunday.
Armed bandits kidnapped 303 children and 12 teachers from the St. Mary’s Private Catholic school in the country’s north-central Niger State on Friday, according to CAN. The students are both male and female, some as young as ten.
“The pupils escaped between Friday and Saturday and have reunited with their parents as they could not return to the school after they escaped,” spokesman for CAN’s Niger State chapter chairman Most. Rev.
Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, Daniel Atori, said in a statement.
Atori said 253 children – including 250 students from the school and three children belonging to school staff members – and 12 teachers remain captive.
Pope Leo made an appeal for the release of the students and teachers during his weekly address of the Angelus prayer on Sunday, urging “the competent authorities to take appropriate and timely decisions to ensure their release.”
“I feel great pain, especially for the many young men and women who have been abducted and for their anguished families,” he said.
Friday’s abduction is just the latest in a wave of attacks by armed groups that target vulnerable civilian populations and orchestrate mass abductions for ransom. It prompted some federal and state-run schools in northern Nigeria to temporarily close to forestall further attacks.
Earlier this week, gunmen launched an attack on a church in neighboring Kwara State. At least two people were killed and several worshippers, including the pastor, were abducted.
Armed men also kidnapped 25 female students when they stormed a government girls’ boarding school in northwestern Kebbi State. The school’s vice principal was shot and killed during this attack.
The country also faces religiously motivated attacks and other violent conflicts stemming from communal and ethnic tensions, as well as disputes between farmers and herders over limited access to land and water resources.
US President Donald Trump has frequently expressed outrage over disputed allegations of a “mass slaughter” of Christians by Islamist insurgents, even threatening military action to protect Christians.
But the reality on the ground is more complex and nuanced. Experts and analysts say both Christians and Muslims — the two main religious groups in Africa’s most populous country — have been victims of attacks by radical Islamists.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth met with Nigeria’s National Security Advisor Mallam Nuhu Ribadu on Thursday to discuss the violence in the West African nation.
“Under [Trump’s] leadership, [the Department of War] is working aggressively with Nigeria to end the persecution of Christians by jihadist terrorists,” Hegseth said on X.
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