Gunmen kidnap more than 50 people in north-west Nigeria

Latest ‘mass capture’ in Zamfara state shows banditry crisis shifting from land conflict to organised crime

Gunmen have kidnapped more than 50 people in north-west Nigeria in a mass abduction, according to a private conflict monitoring report created for the UN and seen by Agence France-Presse on Sunday.

“Armed bandits” targeted the village of Sabon Garin Damri in Zamfara state Friday, the report said, the latest attack in a region where residents in rural hinterlands have long suffered gangs who kidnap for ransom, loot villages and demand taxes.

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