Armed attackers abducted 13 women and an infant during an overnight raid in northeastern Nigeria, marking the latest in a series of mass kidnappings in the West African nation.
A bride and 10 of her bridesmaids were among those abducted on the night of Saturday to Sunday from the village of Chacho in Sokoto State, a resident told the AFP news agency.
“Bandits stormed our village last night and kidnapped 14 persons, including a bride and 10 bridesmaids, from a house in Zango neighbourhood,” said Aliyu Abdullahi, a resident of Chacho village.
A baby, the baby’s mother and another woman were also taken, Abdullahi added.
According to Abdullahi, Chacho had already been targeted in October by bandits who kidnapped 13 people.
“We had to pay ransom to secure their freedom. Now, we are faced with the same situation,” he said.
A Nigerian intelligence report seen by the AFP confirmed the attack.
“Sokoto witnessed a notable uptick in bandit-initiated abductions in November, culminating in the highest number of such attacks in the past year,” the report found.
It suggested that deals struck by neighbouring states in the hopes of getting the bandits to agree to stop their activities may be partly responsible for the uptick.
Last week, attackers took 25 students in Kebbi State and more than 300 in Niger State. Those abducted from Kebbi were rescued and united with their parents, while there is an ongoing search for the others.
Mass kidnappings for ransom have become common in northern Nigeria, where armed gangs target schools and rural communities, often overwhelming local security forces.
The unrest has heaped pressure on the Nigerian government, with President Bola Tinubu declaring a nationwide emergency on Wednesday.
Moreover, United States President Donald Trump recently threatened to carry out attacks in Nigeria in response to purported anti-Christian violence.
While human rights groups have urged the Nigerian government to do more to address unrest in the country, experts say that claims of a “Christian genocide” are false and simplistic.
