Armed gangs - The African Mirror

Apr

2023

Gunmen kidnap 80, including children, in northwest Nigeria

ARDO HAZZAD GUNMEN abducted at least 80 people, mostly women and children, in Nigeria's Zamfara state, a hotspot for kidnappings for ransom by armed gangs targeting remote villages, residents said. Gangs of armed men have attacked hundreds of local communities across northwestern Nigeria in recent years, while Islamist militants continue to stage attacks in the northeast. The latest kidnapping took place on Friday in Wanzamai village in Tsafe local government area in Zamfara, three residents said. Zamfara is one of the states most affected by kidnappings. Musa Usman, whose 14-year-old son Ibrahim was among those abducted, said children and women…

Nov

2022

By The African Mirror

Gunmen kidnap dozens in Nigeria, at least 11 killed, residents say

NEWS

GUNMEN in Nigeria kidnapped at least 80 people and killed 11 others in separate attacks in the northwest, traditional leaders and residents said, in the latest attacks by armed gangs that have been preying on villages, schools and highways. Zamfara state is one of the worst hit by the armed gangs, known locally as bandits, who terrorise and abduct for ransom, adding to growing insecurity ahead of a presidential vote in February. In the remote village of Masu, in the Bukkuyum local government area, bandits kidnapped 50 people, mostly women, families of the victims told Reuters. Ismail Jinjiri, whose wife…

Apr

2022

By The African Mirror

Gunmen attack kills at least 50 in Nigeria’s Plateau state

NEWS

AT least 50 people were killed and dozens abducted by gunmen in Nigeria's Plateau state, residents and a community leader said, the latest in a spate of attacks by armed gangs in northern parts of Africa's most populous nation. Such attacks are not common in Plateau, in central Nigeria. But the state shares a border with Kaduna state, where suspected bandits - a loose term for gangs of outlaws carrying out robberies and kidnappings - blew up train tracks, killed eight people and kidnapped dozens last month. Fifteen soldiers were killed last week by gunmen who attacked a Kaduna army…

Apr

2022

By The African Mirror

Nigerian train attack: bandits demand ransom

NEWS

SUSPECTED bandits have contacted some Nigerian families to say they are holding relatives who went missing following an attack on a passenger train this week and that they will demand a ransom, the families said. Authorities in the northern Kaduna state said eight people died and 26 were hospitalised when armed gangs blew up train tracks on the Abuja-Kaduna route and kidnapped an unknown number of passengers on Monday night. Ibrahim Abba told Reuters that unknown men called his family on Tuesday evening, informing them that they were holding his brother, who he said has not been seen since the…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Kidnaps could create lost generation of students

NEWS

LIBBY GEORGE and ABRAHAM ACHIRGA Yusuf Lado had not yet learned to read or write when his school closed for fear of attacks by armed gangs, which have been snatching students across northwest Nigeria in hopes of lucrative ransom payouts. The 7-year-old has now set aside his dream of becoming a doctor and is training to be a welder, despite his slight build. "I hope to perfect this work I'm learning and be as good as my boss," he told Reuters late last month at his new workplace on the outskirts of the Kaduna state capital. Humanitarian agencies warn that…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

FACTBOX-The violence and insecurity affecting Nigeria

NEWS

LIBBY GEORGE UNREST and violence are worsening across Nigeria, where gunmen in the northwest were reported to have kidnapped around 30 students from a forestry college overnight in the fourth mass school abduction since December. Growing public anger prompted President Muhammadu Buhari to replace his military high command earlier this year. Here is a summary of the violence: ARMED GANGS, NORTHWEST/NORTH-CENTRAL NIGERIA Armed gangs that rob and kidnap for ransom, commonly described as "bandits", are active across the northwest. Such groups killed more than 1,100 people in the first half of 2020 alone, according to rights group Amnesty International. In…