[Source: ABC]

Gunmen in northern Nigeria abducted 317 girls from a boarding school today, the latest in a series of mass kidnappings of students in the West African nation.

It comes less than two weeks after gunmen abducted 42 people from a college in Niger State.

Police and military forces have begun joint operations to rescue the girls after the attack at a secondary school, according to a Zamfara state police spokesperson Mohammed Shehu.

Resident Musa Mustapha says the gunmen also attacked a nearby military camp and checkpoint, preventing soldiers from interfering while the gunmen spent several hours at the school. It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties.

Several large groups of armed men described by the government as bandits operate in Zamfara state, and are known to kidnap for money and for the release of their members from jail.

Nigeria has seen several such attacks and kidnappings over the years, notably a mass abduction in April 2014 by jihadist group Boko Haram of 276 girls from the secondary school in Chibok in Borno state.

More than a hundred of the girls kidnapped in 2014 are still missing.

The students, teachers and family members are still being held.