As a result of bandits‘ invasion, hundreds of residents of Kwari village have fled their small community and taken refuge in a primary school in Jibiya town, the headquarters of Jibiya Local Government Area in Katsina State, Northwest Nigeria.
Over 80 people were reportedly kidnapped from the northwest and taken to a forest by the assailants.
In an interview with reporters on Thursday, one of the women who escaped the onslaught described how the hoodlums forced them to flee the village.
She said ” they came with full force at 5.30 pm on Wednesday and invaded us, we were not aware of their coming. They opened fire, shot sporadically and burnt down shops and our food barns .”
“They kidnapped people, men and women, little children who cannot even talk. They took them to the forest. They took about 80 people to the forest.
“We did a head count later, we found that about 80 of our people were taken away by the bandits. They are these bush Fulani people; they took even pregnant women away,” she stated.
There has been a resurgence of attacks on communities in recent days in Katsina. One Month ago, bandits killed 12 farmers in Gakurdi village of Jibia Local Government Area of Katsina state. Three people sustained injuries during the attack.
Katsina is one of the states in Nigeria’s northwestern region that has been heavily targeted by gunmen. Bandits attack villages, rustle cattle, and kidnap tourists and students for ransom.
They also levy taxes and levies on communities before allowing them to farm or harvest their crops.
Thousands of people have been killed as a result of these bandits. They have also abducted many more people in what is shaping up to be one of the worst kidnap-for-ransom syndicates in the country’s history.
Recall that the state governor Aminu Masari last month confessed that the people of the state have suffered immensely due to incessant bandits’ activities.
