Armed gunmen have abducted 52 people, including children, after launching a coordinated overnight attack on Kasuwar Daji community and a nearby military base in Kaura Namoda Local Government Area of Zamfara State.
Residents said the attackers, who arrived on motorcycles late Saturday into the early hours of Sunday, first stormed a military outpost on the outskirts of the village. During the assault, they reportedly seized rifles, set a military patrol vehicle on fire and later moved into the community, where they went from house to house abducting residents.
One of the victims’ relatives, Shehu Abdullahi, said the gunmen initially rounded up more than 100 people before releasing some of them and taking 52 captives away. He disclosed that his 12-year-old daughter was among those kidnapped.
Another resident, Ahmad Usman, said the attackers abducted two of his sons’ wives and two teenage girls from his family, describing the raid as one of the worst the community has experienced in recent months.
Community leader Alhaji Ibrahim Musa said the gunmen overwhelmed the military base before carrying out the mass abduction. He noted that the latest attack was not an isolated incident, recalling that the community had previously come under attack, including an assault on a police station.
Confirming the incident, Nigerian Army spokesman Olaniyi Osoba said troops repelled the attack on the military base but revealed that one soldier and one police officer were killed during the exchange. He also confirmed that an unspecified number of residents were abducted by the attackers.
Authorities have yet to release an official figure for those kidnapped, while the Zamfara State Police Command had not issued a statement as of the time of filing this report.
Zamfara remains one of Nigeria’s worst-hit states by armed banditry, with criminal groups frequently carrying out mass kidnappings, cattle rustling, attacks on rural communities and illegal mining activities. Security experts say kidnappings have become a major source of funding for armed groups operating across parts of northern Nigeria.
