TEHRAN, March 10 (MNA) – Gunmen kidnapped at least 15 students from a school in Nigeria's northwestern Sokoto state in a dawn raid on Saturday.

Gunmen kidnapped at least 15 students from a school in Nigeria's northwestern Sokoto state in a dawn raid on Saturday, the school's owner and a resident said, days after some 300 students were abducted by a gang in northern Kaduna state.

The gunmen forced their way into the school premises in the Sokoto village of Gidan Bakuso and started firing shots sporadically, waking and causing panic among the students, who ran for cover, said school owner Liman Abubakar Bakuso.

"They succeeded in abducting 15 of my students, the oldest being 20 and 15, but all the others are below 13," said Bakuso by phone, adding that a woman had also been kidnapped.

"We are in a state of panic and have been praying hard for their safe release," he told Reuters.

Police did not respond to requests for comment.

Kidnappings at schools in Nigeria were first carried out by Boko Haram, which seized more than 200 students from a girls' school in Chibok in Borno state a decade ago, causing global outrage.

But the tactic has since been adopted by criminal gangs without any ideological affiliation seeking ransom payments, authorities say.