Gunmen suspected to be bandits have reportedly kidnapped no fewer than 17 married women in the Faskari Local Government Area of Katsina State.
According to Katsina Post, the women were intercepted on Thursday on their way to a wedding ceremony.
“The incident happened when the women were on their way from Unguwar Rimi village to Garin Maigora town to attend a wedding ceremony,” the newspaper quoted a source as saying.
The source stressed that all the women were carrying babies as at the time they were abducted.
The source revealed that one woman and her baby were released by the bandits due to the ill health of the baby.
A resident of the area further disclosed that the security situation in the area had deteriorated.
He added that all the villages in the western part of Faskari town were deserted due to the activities of the bandits, adding that it is only Bilbis town that is left.
He noted that if no concrete action was taken in the next few weeks to correct the situation, Faskari town would also be vulnerable.
Katsina is one of the states most affected by terrorism and banditry in Nigeria’s North-West region.
On December 11, 2020, some bandits kidnapped 344 students of Government Science Secondary School, Kankara. They were released about a week later.
Also, on December 19, 84 Islamiyya students of Hizburrahim Islamiyya in Mahuta village, Dandume Local Government Area of the state were kidnapped but rescued shortly after.
