227 students and teachers from St Mary's school, located in Niger State (central Nigeria), were abducted on Friday, according to the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), the second such abduction in a week in the country after the kidnapping of 25 schoolgirls in the northwest.

In Nigeria, Africa's most populous country plagued by insecurity, mass kidnappings are common, particularly since the abduction of nearly 300 schoolgirls in Chibok, in the northeast, perpetrated in 2014 by Boko Haram jihadists.

"According to our information, 215 students and 12 teachers were abducted by terrorists" in this school located in the State of Niger, the CAN said in a statement following the visit to the school by the president of the association for the State of Niger, Bulus Dauwa Yohanna.

"During the terrorist attack, some students managed to escape," Mr. Yohanna added in the statement.

The students kidnapped in the middle of the night are all girls, Daniel Atori, a spokesman for the CAN, told AFP by telephone.

The Nigerien authorities have not yet released any figures. The government has ordered "the temporary closure of all boarding schools in the area."

St. Mary's School had "resumed its academic activities without informing or obtaining authorization from the state government, thus exposing students and staff to an avoidable risk," he lamented.

Police announced on Friday that they had deployed tactical units and military elements to the area, who are "combing the forests".

This attack comes a few days after the kidnapping by armed men of 25 high school girls from the girls' boarding school in Maga, in Kebbi State (northwest), on Sunday night into Monday.

According to a UN source speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, the St Mary students were taken to the Birnin Gwari forest in Kaduna State, located east of Kebbi State, a stronghold of several criminal gangs close to the Ansaru jihadist group.

- Several recent attacks -

For now, the identity of the kidnappers – jihadist groups or criminal gangs – remains unknown.

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu cancelled his international trips on Friday. He will be represented at the G20 summit in South Africa by his vice president, Kashim Shettima.

The two kidnappings, along with Tuesday's attack on a church in Eruku (western Nigeria), come as US President Donald Trump threatens military intervention in Nigeria over allegations that Christians in the country are being persecuted. This rhetoric is being promoted in Washington by conservative lawmakers and Christian advocacy groups.

Abuja denies this, but claims to be in talks with the US government regarding security cooperation and specifies that the attacks affect Nigerians regardless of their religion.

The attack on the church in Eruku during a live-streamed service left two people dead, according to local authorities. The church secretary, Michael Agbabiaka, said the assailants also abducted 35 people, a figure that police have not confirmed.

Following this attack, authorities decided to close schools in the districts of Ifelodun, Ekiti, Irepodun, Isin and Oke Ero, Ibraheem Abdullateef, a spokesman for Kwara State, told AFP on Thursday.

Authorities in Katsina State, in northern Nigeria, and Plateau State, in the center, announced on Friday the closure of all their primary and secondary schools.

The Nigerian Ministry of Education has announced the closure of 47 so-called "unitary" secondary schools, which are run by the federal government to bring together students from different parts of the country. Most of the closed schools are located in the north.

Nigeria is divided between a predominantly Muslim north and a predominantly Christian south.

Criminal gangs, referred to as "bandits" by the population, have been terrorizing the northwest and central parts of the country for years, attacking, kidnapping residents for ransom, and burning down houses after looting them.

Nigeria has also been facing a jihadist insurgency for more than sixteen years, which has left 40,000 dead and more than two million displaced in the north of the country, according to the United Nations.