Police and locals in Nigeria reported on Sunday that gunmen had carried out several separate attacks in two northern states, killing dozens of people and kidnapping a number of children.
Armed motorcycle gangs often use the opportunity of the region’s understaffed security personnel by abducting local residents, commuters and students and holding them for ransom.
Residents claimed that on Saturday, armed men raided the villages of Janbako and Sakkida in northwest Zamfara state, murdering 24 people. Additionally, the gunmen kidnapped a number of kids who were gathering firewood in a nearby forest in the Gora village.
Locals in Janbako and Sakkida, Hussaini Ahmadu and Abubakar Maradun, said that the gangs had earlier in the week requested that locals pay a fee so that they could use their fields for farming, but the people had refused to do so, as telling British news agency Reuters on phone.
Yazid Abubakar, a spokesman for the Zamfara police, confirmed the attacks but noted that only 13 fatalities and nine kidnappings of children had been reported.
According to two locals, gunmen attacked the Imande Mbakange community in north central Benue state on Saturday, killing 25 people while setting their homes on fire. The attack’s motivation was unknown.
