Several passengers were abducted on Saturday evening after gunmen suspected to be bandits attacked motorists on a highway in Zamfara State.

A witness disclosed this on Saturday, adding that the gunmen hijacked the vehicles before abducting the occupants.

“Few hours ago, bandits blocked the Damri to Bakura road in Zamfara State, abducting all passengers from two fully loaded vehicles,” a social media user, DanKatsina50, disclosed on his page.

“It’s alarming that terrorists can put blockade on a road in broad daylight without any fear. The northwest region of Nigeria has become a web of terror.”

Zamfara is one of states in the Northern region plagued by criminals known as bandits who raid and loot villages, kill residents and burn houses to the ground.

The gangs maintain camps in a huge forest straddling the state, Katsina, Kaduna, and Niger states, and have carried out mass kidnappings of students from schools in recent years.

In 2019, the state government under former governor and current Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, had entered a peace agreement with the gunmen.

But despite the accord, communities in the state were frequently attacked and residents kidnapped and/or killed.

Last updated on September 13th, 2024 at 09:20 pm