317 schoolgirls abducted by bandits in northwest Nigeria on Friday

Unidentified gunmen kidnapped 317 schoolgirls from the town of Jangebe in Zamfara State, northwest Nigeria on Friday.

This is the second of such kidnapping in just over a week.

A surge in armed banditry has led to a breakdown of security in the country, where school kidnappings are becoming endemic.

The Zamfara State Police Command in collaboration with the military have commenced a joint search and rescue operation with a view to rescuing the 317 students kidnapped by the armed bandits in Government Girls Science Secondary School Jangebe, police said in a statement.

The rise in abductions is fuelled in part by sizeable government payoffs in exchange for the children, officials have said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The government regularly denies such payouts.

School abductions were once the domain of northeastern Islamist groups Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province, but the tactic has now been adopted by other militants in Nigeria’s northwest.