In Bagega, a mining village in Zamfara State, there have been reports of at least 50 people taken hostage, including women, children, and the head of the district, while three others are said to have died in a bandit attack.
According to a few locals who spoke with The PUNCH and verified the incident’s veracity, gunmen on motorcycles stormed the village on Tuesday morning, opened fire on multiple houses, and shot without killing anyone.
Abubakar Uba, the head of the village, confirmed the attack to Reuters, stating that the gunmen first abducted the district chief before abducting numerous other villagers.
“They arrived in the village on dozens of motorcycles, and the district head’s house was their first target. Uba claimed that before they entered the town and started causing more damage, a few of them took him and three members of his household away.
Yazid Abubakar, the spokesperson for the state police, did not answer calls or messages left on his phone as of the time this report was filed, so all attempts to get in contact with him for his thoughts on the attack were unsuccessful.