Security forces raided large forests in northwestern Nigeria today, Friday, searching for about 300 children kidnapped by armed men riding motorcycles from their school in the latest mass kidnapping blamed by analysts and activists on intelligence failure and slow security response.

The kidnapping of 287 children in Kaduna state, near the country's capital in West Africa, is one of the largest school kidnappings this decade since the abduction of schoolgirls in the Chibok village of Borno state in 2014, which shocked the world. Analysts and activists say the security gaps that allowed mass kidnappings to occur still remain.

Local residents in the town of Kuriga, located 55 miles (89 kilometers) from the city of Kuriga, said the victims of the recent attack, including at least 100 children aged 12 or younger, were surrounded and taken into the forest as they started their school day in Kaduna city. School authorities said a man was shot dead while trying to rescue the students.

While the governor of Kaduna, Oba Sani, and security officials met with affected villagers on Thursday, they urged the governor to ensure the release of the students and secure their town - like many in the region, which was once a bustling farming community but now has low population density and where roads are often avoided due to rampant kidnappings.

One woman shouted as the governor’s convoy sped away: "Please stay and help us, please don’t leave us."

Mansur Hassan, spokesperson for Kaduna police, told the Associated Press that a search operation is underway in the nearby forests, which often serve as hideouts for armed gangs. Hassan added that "all security agencies are exerting their utmost efforts to ensure the children’s rescue."

Joshua Madami, a local youth leader, said the school, which had no fence, was "surrounded from all angles" by armed men who arrived on motorcycles shortly after 8 a.m.

Local residents said security forces did not arrive at the scene until several hours later, raising concerns among families and analysts that the armed men may have penetrated deeper into the forest with the children.

Confidence McHarry, a security analyst at Lagos-based SBM Intelligence, said such delayed responses are common and worsen situations in hot spots, in addition to the failure to act on intelligence information.

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, elected last year after promising to end the country's kidnapping crisis, said, "I am confident the victims will be rescued." "Nothing else is acceptable to me or to the waiting family members."

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but locals blame bandits who carry out repeated mass killings and kidnappings for large ransoms in remote villages across northwestern and central Nigeria.

The bandits are mostly herdsmen who have been in conflict with host communities. They are distinct from extremist Islamic insurgents who have kidnapped more than 200 people, mostly women and children, in recent days.

James Barnett, a West Africa researcher at the U.S.-based Hudson Institute, said school kidnappings in northern Nigeria have declined since early last year, but the structural conditions that enable them remain. He said bandits have focused on strengthening their influence over rural communities, often in the form of taxation.

Barnett said, "Since the beginning of the year, we have witnessed bandits becoming more aggressive." "This attack might be an attempt by some gangs to signal to the government that they can turn back the clock to 2021, when mass kidnappings led to a wave of school closures across the northwest."