Updated 04.15 | Published 04.03
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fullscreenNigeria’s military is often powerless against armed gangs that loot and kidnap. Archive image. Photo: Mosa’Ab Elshamy/AP/TT
Gunmen have kidnapped around 150 people from a community in central Nigeria. The perpetrators attacked a village in Niger State and killed at least eight people in the attack.
– They arrived on about 100 motorbikes, with three people on each, says the chairman of the local board, Aminu Najume.
– No rescue came even though the perpetrators looted the village for three hours.
The number of abductees was confirmed by a UN representative, while the state emergency organization Sema said the number of abductees “was over 100 people”.
Kidnappings are quite frequent, mainly in the north-west and central parts of Nigeria. Looting is often combined with kidnapping as the heavily armed gangs hope to get a ransom for the abducted.
The terrorist movement Boko Haram and the rival Islamist extremist group Iswap also kidnap to spread terror and demand ransoms.