Dozens abducted in new Nigeria kidnapping
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Two local representatives and a UN source report that gunmen kidnapped dozens of individuals from a village in northwestern Nigeria.
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Children walk past the bush paths that the abducted schoolchildren of the LEA Primary and Secondary School followed in Kuriga, Kaduna Nigeria, on Saturday, March 9, 2024. (AP)
Gunmen kidnapped dozens of individuals from a village in northwestern Nigeria on Tuesday, as reported by two local representatives and a UN source. This incident occurred just days after the abduction of over 250 students from a school in the same region.
In northwest Nigeria, criminal gangs frequently execute mass kidnappings, targeting schools, villages, and highways where they can swiftly abduct large groups of individuals in exchange for ransom payments.
The abductions that occurred on Tuesday in the Kajuru district of Kaduna State coincided with security forces' efforts to locate the pupils who were abducted from their school in Kuriga village, situated approximately 150 kilometers (93 miles) away.
The surge in large-scale abductions poses a significant challenge to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's administration. His government pledged to address insecurity, while simultaneously handling a cost-of-living crisis and striving to attract more investment to Africa's most populous nation.
Read next: 15 students kidnapped from school in Nigeria as abduction crimes surge
Kaduna State officials did not promptly respond to requests for information regarding the recent attack.
However, local councilor Abubakar Buda informed Channels TV that gunmen raided the village early Tuesday morning, systematically kidnapping residents by going from house to house and intermittently firing shots.
Buda stated that only military intervention prevented further kidnappings, Channels reported. State lawmaker Usman Danlami Stingo informed Arise News that 32 women and 29 men had been abducted.
A UN source also told AFP that gunmen stormed the village early Tuesday morning, adding that "the initial tally showed 40 persons were abducted but the figure rose to around 60."
Earlier this month, in the northern town of Kuriga, gunmen abducted over 200 school pupils on March 8. This incident marks the largest mass abduction from a school since 2021.
The incident took place shortly after the morning assembly at the Local Government Education Authority School in the town of Kuriga.
"The number of the kidnapped from the secondary section based on the statistics we took together with the parents is 187 while that of the primary section is 40 for now," said Sani Abdullahi, a home economics teacher.
