At least 50 of the more than 300 students taken from a Catholic school in Nigeria have escaped, according to Al Jazeera, which cited a statement from a Christian organisation monitoring the situation. Armed assailants raided Saint Mary’s Catholic School in Niger State on Friday, abducting 303 children and 12 staff members in one of the country’s largest school kidnappings in recent years.

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) said in a Sunday statement that the 50 students fled from their captors between Friday and Saturday and have since been reunited with their families. CAN’s Niger State chairman, Reverend Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, urged people to continue praying for the safe rescue of the remaining abductees. The mass abduction occurred only four days after another attack on a secondary school in Maga, Kebbi State, about 170km (106 miles) away. In that earlier incident, gunmen seized 25 schoolgirls and killed the school’s vice-principal. Authorities say one of the girls has managed to escape, but 24 are still unaccounted for.

The identities of the attackers behind both incidents are still unknown, and no faction has claimed responsibility. Regional officials and security forces have launched extensive search operations in nearby forests and along likely escape routes, deploying police, military units and local hunters. UNICEF condemned the kidnapping of children and teachers as a “brutal and serious violation of children’s rights,” calling for their immediate release.

US President Donald Trump warned that the United States might consider military action against Nigeria, alleging that Christians are being systematically targeted. His comments have been widely echoed by right-wing and evangelical groups in the US. On Friday, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on social media that he met a day earlier with Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, to discuss what he described as “the horrific violence against Christians in their country.”

Disclaimer: This image is taken from Reuters.