The attackers were believed to be from the neighbouring Anka District, where they maintain camps in a nearby forest, Lawal Umar, a resident of neighbouring town of Bukkuyum, said, confirming details of the raid.
“The bandits kidnapped 18 women and children from the village after killing a farmer named Garba Gambo and leaving his wife with gunshot wounds.”
Troops stationed in Bukkuyum to protect the area from bandits’ incursion could not get to the village to repel the attack as the river separating Birnin Zarma and Bukkuyum was in spate (had become swollen), Umar said.
That meant there were no boats available to ferry them across.
Residents of Birnin Zarma, 170km from the state capital Gusau, were still waiting for a ransom demand from the gang, Bello said.
Late last month, 15 passengers, mostly women and children, who were fleeing bandits’ attacks on three villages in neighbouring Gummi District drowned when their boat capsized mid-stream.
– Agence France-Presse