Terrorists kidnap over 80 youths in Zamfara

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Terrorists kidnap over 80 youths in Zamfara

No fewer than 80 youths who went to the bush to pick firewood, were kidnapped by terrorists in Zamfara State.

The incident which happened at Wanzamai village at about 8 am on Friday, left the entire village in fear and confusion as virtually, every household was affected.

Calls put through to the police and government officials over the incident were not successful.

However, parents whose children were among the kidnapped, told the BBC Hausa Service in an interview monitored by our correspondent; that the hoodlums kidnapped their children, both males and females, while on an expedition in the bush to fetch firewood.

According to a parent,” It affected all members of our community.It’s either your son or daughter who was among the captives, your nephew or niece. They went away with my son and a motorbike.”

A woman in the Wanzamai village said her 15-year-old daughter was among those kidnapped. ” We are worried because we don’t know the condition of our children in captivity,” she said.

The terrorists were yet to demand ransom, as of the time of this report.

Journalists were told that there was an attack on the Wanzamai village at the beginning of Ramadan, but the terrorists only rustled animals and stole.

Zamfara, a rural state in Northwest Nigeria has been an epicentre of kidnapping and other criminal activities perpetrated by criminal gangs, often challenging the state and local authorities as if they were a parallel government with powers to unleash death and other hardships on the rural people.

Rich in gold and other precious minerals, Zamfara state was attractive for the exploitation of resources by local miners and their foreign collaborators, a development that led to the occupation of many mining sites by these non-state actors, and the continued kidnap for ransom by the terrorists.

The military troops have continued to bomb criminal enclaves, but the hoodlums kept on changing locations and pretended to be ready to dialogue for peace, which they often reneged and returned to their tranches to continue with the criminal acts.