The bandits invaded their communities, killed men and destroyed properties.
No fewer than 30 women have been reportedly kidnapped by bandits in Zamfara following attacks on 15 villages within the neighbourhood of Gusau, the state capital.
In a report by BBC Hausa, some locals in Geba and Gidan Kaura villages, and others in communities within the Gusau Local Government Area, said the bandits invaded their communities, killed men and destroyed properties.
File Photo: Gunmen
A source said, “The bandits kidnapped women and girls, took them away.”
One of the locals told the media: “The bandits kidnapped 10 women in Kura, at Bayauri they kidnapped 9. They also entered a village called Gana and kidnapped 7 before proceeding to Duma and kidnapped another 7. These happened before Sunday morning.”
According to the report, many villages have been deserted, as the villagers have now embarked on an exodus to the state capital, Gusau.
A local who was migrating to Gusau, said they’ve now ran away to the Damba community inside Gusau.
“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.
Meanwhile, when contacted, the Commissioner of Information in Zamfara state, Ibrahim Dosara, confirmed that the attack was in Geba. He explained that shortly after the bandits attacked, security agents went to rescue the situation.
He said, “There are soldiers working in that zone, they went to Geba. They met 3 people injured, the soldiers dispersed the bandits.”
The Commissioner said it was not true that villages that were attacked, were not visited by security agents on a rescue mission.
The development follows an announcement that security agents arrested some bandits that were earlier dislodged in their hideouts after they went to a medical facility for treatment.
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 and their neighbours.
Last week, the bandits burnt over 20 passengers in a motor vehicle in Sokoto, a development that caused a series of condemnation and elicited anger among some Nigerians, who were alleging that the government was allowing the bandits to have a field day, unchallenged.
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