Dozens of students were taken hostage after Boko Haram fighters stormed a school in Lassa, a town in Borno state, northeastern Nigeria, local sources confirmed.

The assault happened early in the morning at a public secondary school while a biology exam was taking place. The gunmen burst into the school compound and abducted a large number of students.

Borno state police spokesman Nahum Kenneth Daso verified the attack. He said the attackers arrived on motorcycles, blending in with the crowd attending the weekly market in Lassa to infiltrate the area.

According to authorities, one teacher was killed during the assault, and several students were forcibly taken away by the armed men.

Following the abduction, Nigerian security forces launched a pursuit operation. The deputy commander of Operation Hadin Kai, Mohammed Musa Goni, stated that one soldier died in a clash with the attackers near the village of Daggu.

He also announced that ten students had been freed during the operation. Their health is satisfactory, and they are receiving medical and psychological care. Efforts continue to locate the remaining hostages and arrest the perpetrators.

Active in northeastern Nigeria since the early 2000s, Boko Haram has led an armed insurgency that has killed tens of thousands since 2009. The group has also extended attacks to Cameroon, Chad, and Niger, with violence in the Lake Chad basin claiming at least 2,000 lives. The conflict has also displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians.