Terrorists Abduct 13 Women Over Men Joining Local Security Forces In North West Nigeria

Terrorists ravaging Nigeria’s Zamfara state have abducted over a dozen women, leaving their families and relatives bittered.  On Friday, Dec. 29, the terrorists attacked the Barayarzaki and Mallamawar communities in the Anka Local Government Area of the state.

In a midnight raid, around 1:00 p.m., the armed group first marched into the Barayarzaki community and abducted seven women and a one-year-old infant before moving to the Mallamawar village to kidnap six other women.  

The terrorists drove the abductees towards the Dajin Gwari forest in the neighbouring Kaduna State where they would be camped, witnesses said.

“The attack was horrible, given the terrifying sounds of gunshots ringing in the air by the armed terrorists when they invaded our village,” said Abubakar Magaji, a resident in one of the two neighbouring communities. “One could think it was thunder striking the buildings.” 

The narrative provided by residents from the ravaged communities is that the terrorists launched the attack because some of their men had joined the state-backed vigilante group fighting the terrorists.

Garba Kira, 67, a farmer whose wife was among the abductees, recalled how the armed men ransacked their villages, accusing them of allowing their men to be trained by the state to kill them.

“My wife was crying telling them none of our men from the village were trained to fight the terrorists,” Kira told HumAngle. “I asked them to go with me, not my wife, but they refused. My son’s wife, Ubaida, was also abducted.” 

Tanimu Alewa, one of the stakeholders of the Barayarzaki community, lamented the slow response to attacks by security forces.

“Even though the location of our villages is far from the local government headquarters, we usually report to authorities, local politicians, and our village head whenever we foresee an attack. But all in vain,” Alewa said, noting how security agents ignored information about impending attacks in the communities.

Sufiyanu Mohammed, one of the villagers whose younger sister was also abducted, said the villagers know the routes and movements of the terrorists but they are not getting adequate support from security officials.

“The armed men came from the Dajin Gwari forest in Kaduna State. They would usually have a stopover in Darita and Sunke camps for days before they would move their victims further,” Mohammed claims, saying the terrorists took the same routes when he was abducted some months ago.

The marauding terrorists have frequently raided villages in Anka, Bukuyum, Bakura and Talata-Mafara local government areas. They often crossover to Kaduna state to hide their victims.