Bandits have kidnapped over 34 women while dozen of others were killed in multiple attacks in some villages in Gusau local government of Zamfara State.
A BBC Hausa report said the bandits attacked Geba and Gidan Kaura villages as well as some communities within the Gusau Local Government Area.
A source told BBC that when the bandits invaded their communities, “they kidnapped some women and girls, while dozens of others were killed.”
According to the source, “the bandits kidnapped ten women in Kaura, also at Bayauri they kidnapped nine women. They also entered a village called Gana and kidnapped seven before proceeding to Duma and kidnapped another seven women. These happened before Sunday morning.”
According to the reports, properties were destroyed and many villages have been deserted, forcing the villagers to relocate to Gusau, the state capital.
A local said they’ve now run away to Damba community inside the state capital.
“We have women, children, and the pregnant ones, there is no food. If you see where they sleep in this cold as if there is no government,” a local residing in Damba community alleged.
Commissioner of Information in Zamfara State, Ibrahim Dosara, while confirming the attacks, however, affirmed that only Geba town was attacked.
He explained that shortly after the bandits’ attack, security agents went to rescue the situation.
“There are soldiers working in that zone, they went to Geba. They met three people injured. The soldiers dispersed the bandits.”
The commissioner said it was not true that the villages that were attacked were not visited by security agents on a rescue mission.
The attacks in Zamfara came at a time the authorities announced that security agents have arrested some bandits that were seeking medical treatment after their hideout was dislodged.
For some years, Zamfara is among the states in the North battling with banditry, a phenomenon that has attained a disturbing dimension in the states of Sokoto, Katsina, Kaduna, their neighbours.