Hundreds of boys are still missing after gunmen abducted them from their boarding school in northern Nigeria on Friday night.

Anxious parents gathered at the school waiting for news as the security forces continued to search a forest area outside the town of Kankara to try to locate them.

About 800 pupils were enrolled at the all-boys school.

Armed groups often kidnap people for ransom in north-western Nigeria. So far the gunmen have not made any demands.

Earlier, the Nigerian presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, said he believed just ten children were still being held. Many may simply have fled.