Barely seven days after they burnt down five villages in horrifying attacks, killing at least 200 people, bandits have again abducted 12 residents in two fresh attacks in Zamfara State.
It had earlier been reported how the terror groups, operating as bandits, killed 200 people in Anka and Bukkuyum local government areas of Zamfara last week.
The UN Secretary-General and President Muhammadu Buhari condemned the attacks in separate statements.
Details of the attack in Yar Kuka are still sketchy, but a resident of Anka told PREMIUM TIMES that the village head, his wife and his brother, Sarki Musa, Hadiza Musa and Bawa Musa respectively, were abducted.
The bandits were said to have stormed the village Monday night and went straight to the monarch’s house.
Other people reportedly abducted were two Burkina Faso nationals who were engaged in mining activities in the village and another resident named Dahiru Ummaru.
Three women and three teenage girls were abducted in Kuzawa community of Kadauri village in Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State.
Muhammadu Tasiu, a local trader, said his two wives and three daughters were abducted by the bandits.
Mr Tasiu, who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES on phone Tuesday evening, said the attackers stormed his house around 2:30 a.m.
“I was around but in my own part of the house when they came. They didn’t fire a single shot. Apart from my wives and daughters, they also took away all my money. The names of my wives are Zainab and Asmau,” he said.
The other woman, according to him, was a neighbour.
He added that the bandits had called twice but did not make any ‘meaningful negotiations with me.’
When contacted, the spokesperson of the police in Zamfara, Mohammed Shehu, said he did not have such information.
“To be honest with you, I don’t have any information on such attacks in the areas you mentioned,” he said.
Kidnapping for ransom, cattle rustling and incessant killings have become commonplace in Zamfara and other North west Nigerian states.
