Hundreds of girls have been kidnapped in Nigeria after armed gunmen stormed a secondary school.
The children were abducted from the Government Girls' Secondary School in the town of Jangebe, in the north-western state of Zamfara, this morning.
At least 300 youngsters are now believed to be missing from the boarding school, reports say.
A member of staff said that some pupils managed to hide from the 'bandits' as hundreds of gunmen 'invaded' the town in the early hours of this morning.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, they said: "The gunmen in their hundreds invaded the town around 2am on Friday, shot sporadically in the air to scare the residents before coming into the school.
"After taking away most of the students, we rounded up those that escaped or hid from the bandits and conducted a census where we counted 54 students and we are still searching to see if we can get more."
Locals reportedly tried to resist the 'invasion' however they were outnumbered and outgunned.
Parents reportedly rushed to the school to search for their children after the attack.
Alhaji Abubakar Dauran, the Nigerian commissioner of security and home affairs, told the News Agency of Nigeria: "I can confirm to you now that we have sadly received the report on the abduction of the students of GGSS Jangebe and right now, I am on my way to the school.
“At this moment, l cannot say how many students were taken away by the gunmen until l get there, but we have already mobilized security men and members of the vigilantatè who are now in pursuit of the abductors."
It comes after 27 students were kidnapped from a secondary school in Nigeria's Niger state last week.
Terror group Boko Haram made headlines around the world when it kidnapped 276 girls from a secondary school in the Nigerian town of Chibok in 2014.
