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By Prosper Mene 

Screams were heard at Government Girls’ Secondary School in Ngala, Borno State at dawn, as dozens of female students ran from their dormitories in a desperate bid to escape what locals described as a brazen suspected attack by Islamist militants.

The incident, happening early Monday morning, has plunged the already volatile region into renewed panic, evoking haunting memories of the 2014 Chibok kidnapping that claimed over 270 schoolgirls and ignited a global outcry.

Eyewitnesses recounted a scene of utter bedlam around 4 a.m., when gunfire erupted near the school’s perimeter fence. “The shots came from the shadows, sudden, relentless, like thunder cracking the night,” said Aisha Mohammed, a 16-year-old student who hid under her bed before sprinting barefoot across the compound with classmates. “We didn’t wait to see faces; we just ran. Teachers were shouting for us to get low, but fear took over. Some girls tripped and cried out, but we pulled each other up and kept going.” At least 40 students fled into nearby scrubland and surrounding villages, according to school officials, while others barricaded themselves in classrooms until military reinforcements arrived an hour later.

The attack bears the hallmarks of operations by the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a Boko Haram splinter group that has intensified assaults on soft targets in Borno State amid escalating insecurity. No group has claimed responsibility, but sources within the Nigerian military point to ISWAP’s recent pattern of hit-and-run raids aimed at sowing terror and abducting girls for recruitment or ransom. “This wasn’t a full abduction like before, but the intent was clear: to terrify and divide,” said a local vigilante leader, speaking on condition of anonymity. “The gunmen fired high to panic everyone, then probed the fence. Praise God, most girls slipped away before they could breach it fully.”

Borno, Nigeria’s northeastern epicenter of the 14-year insurgency, has seen a rise in such incidents. Just last week, 13 teenage girls were kidnapped while harvesting crops in a nearby community, forcing entire families to flee their homes. In a separate raid on November 17, suspected bandits stormed a girls’ boarding school in Kebbi State, killing the vice principal and abducting 25 students, though one later escaped through dense forests.

These events shows a grim trend: over 300 schoolchildren seized from a Catholic school in Niger State just days ago, with 50 managing a daring escape from their captors. Rights groups warn that such attacks disproportionately target girls’ education, with more than 1,000 students kidnapped nationwide since 2014.

The Nigerian army swiftly deployed a joint task force of soldiers, police, and Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) vigilantes to secure the school and scour the Sambisa Forest, a notorious militant stronghold, for signs of the attackers. “We engaged the suspects in a brief firefight, forcing their retreat,” said Major Ibrahim Yusuf, a military spokesperson in Maiduguri. “No students were taken, but we’re treating this as a foiled abduction plot. Intelligence suggests they were scouting for vulnerabilities.” By midday, the school was locked down, with counselors on site to support traumatized students. Classes have been suspended indefinitely, and parents converged on the gates, some weeping as they reunited with their daughters.

The raid’s timing, mere weeks after the 11th anniversary of the Chibok abductions, has amplified calls for action. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar decried the “brutal reminder that the North is bleeding,” linking it to slain military officers and mass displacements in neighboring states. Amnesty International echoed the sentiment, urging the federal government to bolster school fortifications and prosecute enablers of extremism. “These girls deserve to learn without fear,” said Osai Ojigho, the group’s Nigeria director. “The cycle of violence must end now.”