Armed men have abducted dozens of women and children in a raid on the village of Kafin Dawa in Zamfara State, northwestern Nigeria, marking the latest in a series of mass kidnappings plaguing the region, Al Jazeera reports.
Residents reported that on Sunday, gunmen wielding assault rifles stormed the village, going house-to-house and seizing their victims. Hassan Ya’u, a resident who escaped the attack but lost his younger sister, stated that “more than 50 women, including married women and girls,” were abducted. Another resident, speaking to Nigeria’s Daily Trust news site, described the scene as one of terror, with gunshots echoing throughout the village. The Daily Trust reported a total of 43 people kidnapped.
Zamfara State police confirmed the incident and announced the deployment of additional security forces to the area to pursue the kidnappers and secure the release of the hostages.
The abduction is the latest in a wave of kidnappings for ransom carried out by armed groups, known locally as bandits, who operate in the northwest region. The area is struggling with high levels of poverty, unemployment, and a proliferation of illegal firearms, creating a fertile ground for such criminal activity.
This incident follows a similar pattern of mass abductions. In March 2024, over 130 students were abducted in Kuriga, also in northwestern Nigeria. While those students were eventually released unharmed following backchannel negotiations, the incident highlights the growing crisis. The problem is not new; abductions from schools began with Boko Haram’s notorious 2014 kidnapping of 276 girls from a school in Chibok, Borno State. Many of those girls remain missing. A further mass abduction of over 150 students occurred in July 2021, with their release secured only after ransom payments.
According to estimates, at least 1,400 children have been abducted in Nigeria since 2014.
