Armed assailants kidnapped at least 60 civilians and killed multiple villagers during simultaneous overnight raids in Nigeria’s northwest and northeast regions, residents and security officials said.
In Zamfara state’s Sabongarin Damri area, roughly 45 women and children were seized when gunmen struck five adjacent villages—Sabongarin Damri, Sade, Tungar Tsalle, Tungar Sodangi and Tungar Musa Dogo—under cover of darkness on Monday. The attackers burned homes, killed an unconfirmed number of residents and stole cattle before fleeing at dawn, Shehu Musa, the traditional head of Damri, told Reuters. Security forces mounted a counterattack, killing three of the militants, but were unable to recover the hostages.
“They invaded our communities, killed some of our people and took away many women and children,” said Hassan Dauda, a resident of Tungar Tsalle. “Now families are too frightened even to stay in their homes.”
Just days earlier, around 70 villagers had been abducted in a separate raid on Sabongarin Damri, making this the second mass kidnapping in the area within a week. Bandit groups operating in northwestern Nigeria have escalated such attacks in recent years, holding captives for ransom.
Meanwhile in northeastern Borno state, a Boko Haram faction attacked Kennari village near Damasak on Monday, killing the village head and abducting at least 15 people, according to a security report seen by Reuters. Locals said the militants demanded a 30 million naira (about $19,650) ransom for the hostages’ release.
The twin attacks underscore the persistent security vacuum in Nigeria’s border regions, where poorly armed rural communities remain vulnerable to heavily armed criminal and extremist gangs. Federal authorities have deployed reinforcements, but residents say patrols are sporadic and too late to prevent the latest bloodshed.