Kidnappers have abducted over 100 people in two new attacks in northwest Nigeria weeks after more than 250 school pupils were seized in the same state, residents and officials told AFP on Monday.
They blamed gangs of criminals known locally as bandits for the abductions in the Kajuru area of Kaduna state over the weekend, which pile pressure on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu after a spate of large-scale abductions.
Bandits routinely target communities, loot villages and carry out mass kidnappings for ransom in northwest and north-central Nigeria, where the violence has displaced around a million people, according to the UN.
On Sunday night, gunmen kidnapped 87 people in Kajuru Station, according to local government chairman Ibrahim Gajere.
“They went and removed people from their homes at gunpoint,” he said.
Resident Harisu Dari said bandits stormed the village at around 10:00 pm and went door to door abducting residents.
A UN source and a former local official, both speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, confirmed the account.