Nigerian soldiers at a public event. File photo, illustrative. Photo: Apdoull / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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Nigerian army says it safely rescued 33 people kidnapped by gunmen.
The military says all 33 people seized from a road in north-western Nigeria at the weekend have been freed unharmed.
The people were abducted while travelling through the country's north-western Zamfara state on Saturday.
Background
Zamfara is one of Nigeria's 36 states. It lies in the north-west, borders the Republic of Niger and has its capital at Gusau. Much of the state is rural, and the main roads linking it to neighbouring Katsina, Sokoto and Kaduna states pass through long stretches of open bush and forest.
Mass abduction for ransom by armed groups, referred to in Nigeria as banditry, has been a persistent problem across the north-west since the late 2010s. Victims are frequently taken from highways, farms and rural schools.
Under Nigeria's Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act of 2022, paying a ransom to kidnappers is itself a criminal offence, a measure the government adopted to try to remove the financial incentive behind the attacks.
That was a Kibra News Network report, read by an A I voice.
The military says all 33 people seized from a road in north-western Nigeria at the weekend have been freed unharmed.
The people were abducted while travelling through the country’s north-western Zamfara state on Saturday.
Background
Zamfara is one of Nigeria’s 36 states. It lies in the north-west, borders the Republic of Niger and has its capital at Gusau. Much of the state is rural, and the main roads linking it to neighbouring Katsina, Sokoto and Kaduna states pass through long stretches of open bush and forest.
Mass abduction for ransom by armed groups, referred to in Nigeria as banditry, has been a persistent problem across the north-west since the late 2010s. Victims are frequently taken from highways, farms and rural schools.
Under Nigeria’s Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act of 2022, paying a ransom to kidnappers is itself a criminal offence, a measure the government adopted to try to remove the financial incentive behind the attacks.
