Gunmen kidnap 150 people in central Nigeria: officials

Gunmen kidnap 150 in central Nigeria, highlighting the ongoing issue of mass abductions by armed groups in the country.

Gunmen in central Nigeria have kidnapped about 150 people in the country’s latest mass abduction, officials told AFP on May 27.

Attackers on motorbikes stormed Kuchi village in Niger state on Friday night, where they killed eight people and “abducted about 150 villagers,” local government chairman Aminu Najume said.

“They came on around 100 motorcycles each carrying three men,” he said. “No help came throughout the three hours they took operating in the village.”

A UN source gave the same figure for the number kidnapped, while Nigerian state rescue agency SEMA said more than 100 were abducted.

Mass kidnappings for ransom are common in Nigeria’s northwest and central states, where heavily armed gangs known locally as bandits often target remote villages to loot and abduct residents.

Boko Haram and rival jihadist group Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) also regularly carry out abductions in northeast Nigeria.

Some jihadist groups have established a presence outside the region including in Niger state.