Several hundred girls are missing after a raid by suspected armed bandits on a school hostel in Zamfara, northwest Nigeria, a teacher and parent told AFP on Friday, in what would be the latest mass kidnapping in the troubled region.

A spokesman for Zamfara’s state governor, Zailani Bappa, said he saw reports of the attack on social media and checked with a police official who told him there had been abductions at a school in the state. He was unable to provide further details.

Heavily armed criminal gangs in northwest and central Nigeria have stepped up attacks in recent years, kidnapping for ransom, raping and pillaging.

"More than 300 girls are unaccounted for after a headcount of remaining students," said a teacher at the Government Girls Secondary School Jangebe who asked to remain anonymous.

Last week, 42 people were taken by a gang from a school in nearby Niger state. More than 300 boys were kidnapped from a school in December in Kankara, President Muhammadu Buhari's home state of Katsina, while he was visiting the region. The boys were later released after negotiations with government officials but the incident triggered global outrage.