At least 25 people have been shot dead and others kidnapped in Nigeria’s northwestern Katsina state, authorities said.
National Security Commissioner Nasiru Babangida Mu’azu told BBC Hausa that dozens of gunmen on motorcycles attacked Yagoye in Kankara on Sunday night.
Attacks by armed gangs, known locally as bandits, have become almost routine in northwestern and central Nigeria, and authorities appear powerless to stop them despite claims by the government and security forces that they are working to end widespread insecurity.
Residents told the BBC that dozens of gunmen on motorcycles entered the community, opened fire indiscriminately, looted shops and then kidnapped an unknown number of villagers.
“The number of people killed by the bandits is more than 50, as some bodies are still being recovered from the bush,” said a resident who asked not to be named.
“They killed children, women and men and kidnapped large numbers of people. They injured more than 30 residents who are currently being treated at the general hospital.”
Another resident, Abdullahi Yunusa Kankara, told Reuters he narrowly escaped the attack, which he said continued into the early hours of Monday.
“Our town has turned into a death zone. Almost every house in the village fell victim to this attack. More bodies have been found this year [Monday] Good morning,” he said.
Surviving residents are trying to determine how many people were kidnapped.
In December 2020, more than 300 students from a boys’ secondary boarding school in the suburbs of Kankara were kidnapped by a group of gunmen on motorcycles. They were later released a week after the Katsina State government confirmed they were negotiating with the kidnappers.
In March this year, dozens of passengers were abducted in broad daylight in the same area of Katsina state, the home state of former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.
