Terrorists – locally dubbed as bandits in Nigeria have reportedly killed six persons and abducted several others in Kallah Afogo Community, Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
The bandits attacked the village about 11:15 p.m., on Sunday. They broke into houses and went away with the locals, Vanguard newspaper reported, citing locals.
It was gathered that those killed in Kallah were Garkuwa Alfarma, Buhari Maidiga, Uba Auta, Yakubu Gaku, and Atabata Naallah. One of the locals, who pursued the bandits into the bush, was killed and his body mutilated.
The bandits launched another attack on Bakin Pah in Maro Ward of the same council, where one person was killed and six others abducted.
A local, Maigari Ben, called on security agencies to enhance security in the communities and ensure the safe return of the abducted people.
The state Police Command was yet to react to the incident.
Meanwhile, two nurses and a number of patients at a Primary Health Care Centre in Kuyello, Birnin-Gwari Local Government Area of the state, were also abducted.
A local vigilante, Musa Alhassan, said the bandits initially targeted the nearby Government Day Secondary School, arriving about 9a.m., yesterday.
“When the bandits found the school empty, they turned their attention to the healthcare centre, located in close proximity. The bandits came to the school about 9a.m., asking about the students, but when they found out the school was empty, they went to the healthcare centre and started kidnapping people.
“The bandits, who were seeking to abduct students, instead took two female nurses and several patients hostage, leaving the community in a state of panic. The exact number of patients kidnapped is still unknown.
“The bandits came to the healthcare centre wielding guns and machetes. They started dragging people out of the hospital, and we couldn’t do anything to stop them,” Vanguard newspaper quoted Alhassan as saying.
The Kaduna State Police Command’s spokesman, was yet to react to inquiries on the incident at press time.
– Insecurity and violence in Nigeria –
For more than a decade, civilians in Nigeria have faced multiple security threats and risk of atrocities as result of attacks, kidnappings and extortion by various non-state armed groups.
Since the start of 2024 civilians have faced intensified violence across Nigeria, and near-daily attacks by armed groups resulting in kidnappings and other abuses against civilians.
Armed groups and gangs, including so-called “bandits,” have – for many years – perpetrated widespread atrocities, including murder, rape, kidnapping, organized cattle-rustling and plunder. Armed herdsmen are also destroying vast swaths of farmland, prompting many farmers to abandon their land out of fear of attack.