Three gunmen who allegedly attacked two primary schools in the Oriire area of Nigeria’s Oyo state were taken into custody, police said Saturday. Police spokesperson Ayanlade Olayinka said the suspects were arrested after the community identified them.
Authorities were still assessing how many schoolchildren might have been abducted, Olayinka told The Associated Press. He said the attack involved gunmen who stormed the schools in the early hours of Friday and that the suspects were arrested afterward.
Oyo state’s Oriire area sits about 220 kilometers (135 miles) from Lagos. The attack occurred in the southwest region of Nigeria, where school attacks are uncommon compared with the northern areas where many armed groups operate.
Police did not say whether they were searching for additional suspects beyond the three detained. The investigation was also underway into what exactly happened during the assault and whether students were taken, police said.
School attacks have been recurring elsewhere in Nigeria, where the government is battling several armed groups. Analysts told AP that armed groups, including the Islamic militant group Boko Haram, often target schools for high ransoms because school kidnappings tend to draw significant government attention.
The Oriire attack also came shortly after another school-related assault in Nigeria’s northeast. Earlier on Friday, suspected jihadi militants attacked a secondary school in Borno state, AP reported.
Last year, Nigeria saw two mass abductions from schools that sent shockwaves through the country, with more than 300 children taken in the conflict-battered northern region.