Gunmen killed one man and abducted 18 women and children during a raid on a village in Nigeria's Zamfar state, in the northwest, local sources told AFP Saturday (September 13, 2025).
The attackers, from kidnap and cattle-rustling gangs known as "bandits", bandits stormed Birnin Zarma village at dawn Friday in the latest violence in the region, the sources said.
Zamfara is one of several states in northwest and central Nigeria that have been plagued by bandit raids for years.
"The bandits attacked the village around 5:00 am while people were preparing for morning prayers," said Ibrahim Bello, a Birnin Zarma resident.
"They broke into a house and shot dead a man and injured his wife before herding 18 women and children out of the village," Bello said.
