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Gunmen Kidnap Dozens of Villagers in Northwestern Nigeria

Reuters

   MAIDUGURI, NIGERIA - Gunmen abducted at least 60 people in northwestern
   Nigeria after riding motorbikes into five villages and firing
   sporadically into the air, a police official and several residents said
   Saturday.

   Nigeria is battling an increase in armed robberies and kidnappings for
   ransom, mainly in northwestern areas, where thinly stretched security
   forces often fail to stop the abductions.

   The latest kidnapping took place in Zamfara state overnight Friday,
   said regional police spokesman Mohammed Shehu, adding that
   investigations were ongoing.

   Four residents told Reuters armed men had attacked villages in the
   Shinkafi area, causing panic and abducting at least 60 villagers before
   escaping into the nearby forest.

   The gunmen, who are known locally as bandits and have increasingly
   targeted schools, also fired a rocket that hit the house of the senior
   district head of the local council, said one resident, asking not to be
   named.

   "The armed bandits rode on over 70 motorbikes and each motorbike was
   [carrying] three people with weapons destroying properties and
   abducting people," Junaidu Badarawa, one of five people who were
   kidnapped but later released, said by phone.