MAIDUGURI, Nigeria – More than 100 folks had been kidnapped by gunmen throughout Friday evening raids on three villages in northwest Nigeria, a district head and residents mentioned on Saturday, the newest abduction of villagers in a area blighted by widespread insecurity.
Kidnapping has turn into endemic in Nigeria’s northwest as roving gangs of armed males abduct folks from villages, highways and faculties, and demand ransom cash from their kin.
Alhaji Bala, head of a district within the Birnin-Magaji native authorities space of Zamfara, mentioned gunmen attacked the villages of Gora, Madomawa and Jambuzu and that 38 males and 67 girls and kids had been lacking.
“But the number of people abducted could be more than that,” he mentioned.
Zamfara is a hotspot for kidnapping gangs who perform assaults and retreat into forests the place they’ve arrange camps. The Nigerian navy has bombed a few of the camps however assaults proceed.
Yezid Abubakar, Zamfara police spokesperson, couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.
Aminu Aliyu Asha, the Madomawa village head, mentioned gunmen arrived in his village on motorbikes and shot sporadically earlier than kidnapping a number of folks.
“The abduction breaches the peace agreement between us and bandits. In February this year, we made several ransom payments in order to stop them from attacking our territory,” mentioned Asha.
Nusa Sani mentioned his two brothers had been amongst these kidnapped, whereas one other resident, Garba Kira, added that among the many kidnapped had been 15 passengers in a lorry that was passing via the villages.
Mass kidnappings had been first carried out by jihadist group Boko Haram after they seized greater than 200 college students a decade in the past, however the follow has been adopted by armed gangs with no identified ideological affiliation and has grown as Nigerians grapple with financial hardship. —Reuters
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
