About 150 students are missing after armed men raided a boarding school in Nigeria’s Kaduna state, a parent and an administrator said on Monday, and police said they were in hot pursuit alongside military personnel.

The attack on the Bethel Baptist High School is the 10th mass school kidnapping since December in northwest Nigeria, which authorities have attributed to armed bandits seeking ransom payments.

Dozens of distraught parents gathered at the school compound, some weeping and crying out, standing in groups awaiting news. Discarded sandals lay strewn nearby. Dormitories containing metal bunk beds and cupboards were deserted.

“May God take away their tears and the suffering that they will face in the hands of the kidnappers,” said a woman pointing at a hole in the school’s perimeter where the attackers entered.

His voice breaking, parent John Evans said he had recently told his daughter that God would protect her while she studied at the school.

“Just this morning at about 6, I received a phone call that they have entered the school…kidnappers, that all our children are packed (taken), including my daughter,” he said. “We rushed down here, we confirmed that they are all packed.”

Police said gunmen shooting wildly attacked overnight and overpowered the school’s security guards, taking an unspecified number of students into a nearby forest. A police statement said 26 people including a female teacher had been rescued.

Reverend John Hayab, a founder of the school, told Reuters about 25 students had managed to escape while the school’s other students remained missing.

Roughly 180 students attended the school and were in the process of sitting exams, according to Hayab, whose 17-year-old son escaped, and parent, Hassana Markus, whose daughter was among those missing.

Local residents who declined to be identified told Reuters that security officials had cordoned off the school after the attack, which took place between 11 pm on Sunday and 4 am on Monday morning.

Armed men, known locally as bandits, have made an industry of kidnapping students for ransom in northwest Nigeria, with Kaduna state particularly hard hit. They have taken nearly 1,000 people from schools since December last year, more than 150 of whom remain missing.

Kidnappers have also targeted roads, private residents and even hospitals; in the early morning hours of Sunday, gunmen abducted six people including a one-year-old child from a hospital in Kaduna state.

In February, President Muhammadu Buhari urged state governments “to review their policy of rewarding bandits with money and vehicles,” warning that the policy might boomerang disastrously. The unrest has become a political problem for Buhari, a retired general and former military ruler who has faced mounting criticism over prominent attacks by the gangs.

Southern Governors are meeting Monday in Lagos State.

The governors’ meeting is a follow-up to the last one held in May in Asaba Delta State and is attended by most governors in the region while some of them are represented by their deputy.

The réunion commenced at about 11:30 am and is still ongoing.

Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Lagos State governor, received the governors at Alausa, Ikeja, the venue of their réunion and they proceeded to the réunion which is currently held behind closed-doors.

Some of those at the meeting include Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State; Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State; Gboyega Oyetola of Osun State; and Edo State deputy governor Philip Shaibu.

Others include Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun; Enugu State governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi; Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi.

Rotimi Akeredolu, Chairman of the Southern Governors Forum assured that a communique will be issued at the end of the meeting.

The Chief of Army Staff, Major General Faruk Yahaya, has urged officers and soldiers of the Nigerian Army to remain resolute and determined in dealing with insurgency and other adversaries confronting the nation.

Yahaya gave the charge at the interdenominational church service as part of activities to commemorate the 2021 Nigerian Army Day Celebration (NADCEL) at Mogadishu Cantonment, Abuja.

He said that NADCEL was a celebration of commitment, doggedness, sacrifice and unity of purpose in ensuring the defence and security of the nation.

The COAS said that they in the military believed in the efficacy of prayer and it is a usual practice to have prayers at both churches and mosques as part of activities lined up for NADCEL.

He said that there was need to constantly be in prayer, giving glory to God for his mercies and guidance as well as for the successes God had granted the military in its operations.

While giving reasons for attending the church event being a Muslim, Yahaya said it was borne out of the belief in the military that there is unity of purpose in everything, such as operations.

He said: “Whether you are Muslim or Christian, we pray together before we go for operations and in operation, when we line up, the man next to you may be a Christian and it does not matter to us because the essence is unity and synergy with other services and security agencies.”

He commended the officers and soldiers wives for holding forth in the home fronts while their husbands were working to keep the nation safe and secure.

While giving his sermon during the service, the Director of Chaplaincy Services (Protestant), Col. Islongo Mairiga, an Anglican Venerable, described the Nigerian Army as a pride of the nation.

Mairiga, while reading from the Bible in the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 4:1, 9-12, emphasised the importance of oneness and unity of purpose which he said remained a force for successful operations.

He said that peaceful living and availability of food are two vital interests of any nations, urging troops irrespective of their ranks to always look up to each other.

“We are praying for Nigerian Army, the nation and the COAS so that collectively, we put our hands together to see to the success that we have in mind in this joint environment,” he said.

The Chief of Defence Communication, Maj.-Gen. Elvis Njoku, represented the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor and other senior officers.

The Acting Chief of Policy and Plans (Army), Maj.-Gen. Tari-Timiye Gagariga, the Chief of Civil Military Afffairs (Army), Maj.-Gen. Anthony Omozoje and other principal staff officers and commanders as well as members of NAOWA also attended the church service.

NADCEL is celebrated annually from July 1 to July 6 with series of activities which include humanitarian activities and the climax being the COAS commendation awards and lectures on July 6.