Bandits raid Zamfara community, abduct villagers

Bandits reportedly dressed in women’s attire, including hijabs, have attacked Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State, abducting an unspecified number of people.  The bandits, according to residents, invaded the area around 7pm Monday on motorcycles and began shooting sporadically before leaving with the victims including women and children. The attacked community is about 30 […]

Bandits reportedly dressed in women’s attire, including hijabs, have attacked Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State, abducting an unspecified number of people. 

The bandits, according to residents, invaded the area around 7pm Monday on motorcycles and began shooting sporadically before leaving with the victims including women and children.

The attacked community is about 30 kilometres away from Bungudu LGA where bandits had kidnapped seven people Sunday, including a son of the emir.

“The terrorists invaded the community immediately after Maghrib (evening) prayer and started shooting sporadically. People began to run to safety and the bandits followed them into their houses and went away with many of them,” a local source told Daily Trust.

The source added, “Though the exact number of abducted people has not yet been ascertained, the bandits left away with at least 50 people,”

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Earlier in July, the immediate past Commissioner for Information in the state, Ibrahim Magaji Dosara had warned that bandits have designed a new strategy by disguising in women’s dresses.

He recalled that four police officers were recently killed by bandits in Bungudu LGA, adding that a mechanic was also killed at Kucheri town in Tsafe LGA; all by bandits who dressed as women.

Efforts to reach the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, CSP Muhammad Shehu, were unsuccessful as he did not pick up our correspondent’s calls or reply to a text message sent to him as of the time of filing this report.