More than 100 people, including women and children, were abducted when gunmen raided four villages in Nigeria’s north-western Zamfara state on Sunday, the information commissioner and residents said.
Kidnapping has become endemic in north-west Nigeria as roving gangs of armed men seize people from villages, highways and farms and demand ransom money from their relatives.
More than 40 people were taken from Kanwa village in the Zurmi local government area of Zamfara, the information commissioner, Ibrahim Dosara, and one local resident said.
A further 37 people, mostly women and children, were adbucted from Kwabre community in the same local government area, the resident added, declining to be named for security reasons.
“Kanwa village is deserted, the bandits divided themselves into two groups and attacked the community. They kidnapped children aged 14 to 16 and women,” the villager said.
In Yankaba and Gidan Goga, communities of the Maradun local government area, at least 38 people were kidnapped while working on their farms, residents said.
Dosara accused the gunmen of using abductees as human shields against military air attacks.