Il Nuovo Postiglione - Dozens kidnapped in two weekend attacks in northern Nigeria

Gunmen on motorcycles -- members of gangs specialising in ransom kidnappings and cattle rustling, locally known as "bandits" -- have for years terrorised rural communities in northwestern and central Nigeria.

On Saturday, at least 47 farmers were abducted by armed men while harvesting peanuts in Niger state, and on Sunday, 40 women were kidnapped in the neighbouring state of Zamfara, according to two security reports seen by AFP and a local source.

Bandits regularly carry out bloody raids on villages, killing residents and torching homes after looting them.

Jihadists in Nigeria also use kidnapping as a money-making tactic and have at times collaborated with bandit gangs -- though the latter are motivated by money more than ideology, sometimes leading to clashes between the groups.

A local source said the 47 farmers, most of them women, were taken from their farms in Rimi, an agricultural community in the Mariga area of Niger state.

A security report prepared for humanitarian groups and seen by AFP confirmed the attack, without giving a toll.

The women kidnapped on Sunday were taken from Yargada, in the Gusau area of Zamfara, according to a security report prepared for the UN and seen by AFP.

Adamu Lawwali, a resident of Magama Mairake, said his village and neighbouring Maikogo were also hit in the Yargada raid.

"The bandits have been burning homes in Magama Mairake since yesterday up till this moment," he told AFP, adding the death toll wouldn't be known until survivors could return to assess the situation.

Lawwali and Umar Abdullahi, a Magami resident, said the attack was carried out in reprisal after local vigilantes had killed a number of bandits.

Both men said the actual toll from the kidnapping was likely higher.

- Elections on the horizon -

Kidnapping has become a key source of income for criminal groups in Africa's most populous nation.

According to research from SBM Intelligence, a Lagos-based consultancy, armed groups raised some 7.8 billion naira -- nearly $6 million -- in ransom payments between July 2025 and June 2026, more than triple the 2.6 billion naira paid during the same period last year.

Security, along with the rising cost of living, is set to be a major issue in January's presidential elections.

While the government has touted successes against the country's various armed groups -- including the killing of a major Islamic State group leader earlier this year with US military support -- violence is worsening, according to researchers.

Last week, communities in Niger state attacked by jihadists protested when the governor said only a few dozen were taken in a mass kidnapping.

Locals put the number at nearly 550.

The jihadist insurgency is concentrated in the northeast, though that attack was near the western border with Benin -- an area that has seen increased activity by local armed groups and militants from the neighbouring Sahel as the conflict has splintered.

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E.Scozzafava--INP