In Nigeria, the police said Thursday that gunmen abducted nine students on their way home from an Islamic school in the country’s northwest, two days after a mass school abduction took place in a neighboring state.

The students were kidnapped earlier this week in Katsina state, police spokesman Isah Gambo told The Associated Press.

According to Hassan Muawuya, a resident, the students were whisked away by the bandits on motorcycles into a nearby forested area.

Usman Umar in Abuja reports.