Dozens of girls abducted as gunmen attack school in Nigeria

Police investigate the site of a deadly bombing in Abuja yesterday

More than 100 girls have been abducted by gunmen who attacked a school in Nigeria.

The BBC said attackers believed to be from the Islamist group Boko Haram raided the school at Chibok in Borno state last night.

Nigerian police confirmed the Government Girls' Secondary School was attacked but would not confirm reports that teenage girls were ordered on to trucks.

Original reports put the number of girls abducted at more than 200 but government officials later said it was believed to be more than 100.

The BBC's Hausa service, which has a large radio following in Nigeria, said one student told how she escaped after seeing classmates jumping out of the back of a truck.

Nigerian media said two members of the security forces were killed and several buildings burned down during the attack.

The Nigerian Daily Post reported that the gunmen attacked the Chibok Local Government Area, which includes the school. It quoted government official Yusuf Ndirmbita as saying: “We are devastated. The gunmen came shooting sporadically.”

Boko Haram is critical of Western-style education and has been targeting children and schools in its campaign for an Islamic state in the north of Nigeria.

In February, dozens of students were killed in an attack on a boarding school in Yobe state.

And more than 80 schools with 100,000 students in Borno state were closed last month because of the fear of attacks.

More than 70 people died in bombings in Abuja yesterday.