Gunmen abducted at least 200 girls from their school in northeastern Nigeria late Monday, according to reports.
Parents of girls at the Government Girls’ Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State, reportedly said the attackers ordered the teens onto four trucks, the BBC’s Hausa service said.
Hundreds of residents fled after the attackers set fire to nearby houses and a local government building, Nigeria’s Daily Post newspaper reported. A police officer and a soldier were killed in the melee, the Post said.
Police confirmed the attack on the school building but could not confirm the abductions, according to the BBC.
NBC News could not immediately verify the reports.
The attackers were believed to be members of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which was blamed for a bus station bombing that killed 71 people on Monday in Nigeria's capital Abuja.
The Islamist group has recently focused its aggression on the northeastern part of the country, with no attacks in the centrally located capital for two years until Monday's deadly blast.
Boko Haram means "Western education is sinful" in the Hausa language of northern Nigeria. The group is loosely modeled after the Taliban and has connections with al-Qaeda-linked militants in North Africa.
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
