(MAIDUGURI, Nigeria and LONDON) — An unknown number of students and staff were kidnapped by unidentified gunmen in an attack on a Catholic boarding school in western Nigeria early Friday, authorities said.

The incident occurred before dawn, around 2 a.m. local time, at St. Mary’s School in the Papiri community of the Agwara local government area in Niger state, according to the Nigeria Police Force’s Niger State Command, which said in a statement that “armed bandits” had “abducted a yet to be ascertained number of students from the school’s hostel.”

“Police tactical units, military components and other security agencies have moved to the scene, combing the forests with a view to rescue the abducted students,” police added.

The Niger state government also confirmed in a statement that it

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