KANO: Gunmen in central Nigeria have abducted around 150 people in the country’s latest mass kidnapping, officials told AFP on Monday.
Attackers on motorbikes stormed Kuchi village in Niger state on Friday night, where they killed 8 people and kidnapped about 150 villagers, local government chairman Aminu Najume said.
He said that they came on around 100 motorcycles each carrying 3 men. No help came throughout the three hours they took operating in the village.
A UN source gave the same figure for the number abducted, while Nigerian state rescue agency SEMA said over 100 were kidnapped, AFP reported.
Mass Kidnappings in Nigeria
Mass abductions for ransom are common in Nigeria’s northwest and central states, where heavily armed gangs known locally as bandits often target remote villages to loot and abduct residents.
Boko Haram and rival militant group Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) also regularly carry out kidnappings in northeast Nigeria.
Some groups have established a presence outside the region including in Niger state.
