‘Bandits’ kidnap 18 girls, youngsters in Nigeria

Gunmen killed one man and kidnapped 18 girls and youngsters throughout a raid on a village in Nigeria’s Zamfar state, within the northwest, native sources informed AFP Saturday (September 13, 2025).

The attackers, from kidnap and cattle-rustling gangs generally known as “bandits”, bandits stormed Birnin Zarma village at daybreak Friday within the newest violence within the area, the sources stated.

Zamfara is one in every of a number of states in northwest and central Nigeria which have been tormented by bandit raids for years.

“The bandits attacked the village around 5:00 am while people were preparing for morning prayers,” stated Ibrahim Bello, a Birnin Zarma resident.

“They broke into a house and shot dead a man and injured his wife before herding 18 women and children out of the village,” Bello stated.

The attackers have been believed to be from neighbouring Anka district the place they keep camps in a close-by forest, stated Lawal Umar, a resident of neighbouring city of Bukkuyum, confirming particulars of the raid.

“The bandits kidnapped 18 women and children from the village after killing a farmer named Garba Gambo and leaving his wife with gunshot wounds,” stated Umar.

Troops stationed in Bukkuyum to guard the world from bandits incursion couldn’t get to the village to repel the assault because the river separating Birnin Zarma and Bukkuyum was in spate, stated Umar.

That meant there have been no boats accessible to ferry them throughout.

Residents of Birnin Zarma, 170 km (105 miles) from the State capital Gusau, have been nonetheless ready for a ransom demand from the gang, stated Bello.

Late final month 15 passengers, largely girls and youngsters, fleeing bandits assaults on three villages in neighbouring Gummi district drowned when their boat capsized mid-stream.