A Christian group on Saturday said 315 students and teachers were seized a day earlier in Nigeria's second mass school abduction in a week, as security fears mounted in Africa's most populous nation.

The early Friday raid on St Mary's school in Niger state in central Nigeria came after gunmen on Monday stormed a secondary school in neighbouring Kebbi state, abducting 25 girls.

The Christian Association of Nigeria said the new number came "after a verification exercise" following the early Friday mass kidnapping, and added that "The total number of victims abducted ... is now 303 students and 12 teachers".

The number of students kidnapped is almost half of the school's 629 enrolled pupils.

Authorities in the nearby states of Katsina and Plateau have ordered all schools to close as a pre

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