Armed persons on Saturday killed at least eleven people and abducted several others in a night attack in Sabon Garin Damri in the Bakura Local Government Area of Zamfara State.
Residents said about 70 people were unaccounted for and were feared abducted.
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Reuters reported that the gunmen, locally called bandits, stormed the community, shooting sporadically and abducting people.
“They came on motorcycles, shooting randomly before abducting our daughters and children. As of today, we haven’t heard anything from them. Everywhere is quiet,” a resident, Isa Sani, told Reuters on Monday.
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Another resident whose wife was abducted said he narrowly escaped the attack.
PREMIUM TIMES reports that Bakura is one of the areas in the state that has suffered repeated attacks by bandits. It is on the Zamfara—Sokoto border and near the Gundumi forest in Sokoto.
Several bandit leaders have their camps in the forest, which has now become a hub for terrorists.
The state police spokesperson, Sadiq Abubakar, could not immediately comment on the incident as his phone number didn’t connect on Monday evening.
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The activities of these armed persons, including kidnapping for ransom, killing, armed robbery, imposition of levies, attacks on schools, mosques and highways, have led to the death of hundreds of thousands of people and the displacement of over a million.
The attacks continue despite the presence of security personnel. Over the years, thousands of residents have lost access to farmlands, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis and worsening poverty in the state.
Aside from kidnapping for ransom, armed robbery, mining, and gun running, terrorists operating in the northwest and north-central parts of Nigeria have included imposing levies on residents as a way of financing their terrorist acts.
