The Nigerian government on Sunday said that 110 schoolgirls are unaccounted for following an attack by terror group Boko Haram on an all-girl college in the northeastern state of Yobe.
The figure was confirmed by Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed after a meeting with parents, security agencies and local government representatives, who gathered in the Yobe State capital Damaturu to discuss last Monday's incident at the Government Girls Technical College, in the state's Dapchi area.
"Out of the total register of 906 students in the school that day, 110 students are unaccounted," Mohammed said.
The official said no stone will be left unturned as the government is determined to rescue every missing student.
In a statement on Friday, Nigerian leader Muhammadu Buhari described the incident as a "national disaster," saying "the entire country stands as one with the girls' families."
The tragedy of the missing girls has brought back memories of a similar occurrence four years ago in Africa's most populous country when more than 200 schoolgirls, also from an all-girl college, were abducted by Boko Haram in the northeastern town of Chibok.
The outlawed Boko Haram group has been trying since 2009 to establish an Islamic state in northeastern Nigeria. They have killed some 20,000 people and displaced millions of others.
