13 Mar 2024 | 11:49 AM UTC
Nigeria: Suspected bandits kidnap about 60 residents in Kajuru LGA, Kaduna State, March 11-12
Suspected bandits kidnap about 60 residents in Kajuru LGA, Kaduna State, Nigeria, March 11-12. Further incidents likely.
Suspected bandits kidnaped about 60 residents in the Buda locality (also spelled Budah or Buba) in the Kajuru Local Government Area (LGA), Kaduna State, overnight March 11-12. The intervention of security forces reportedly prevented a higher number of abductions. Some people have also been injured. Security forces are deployed in the area to prevent further incidents.
The incident follows the kidnapping of about 300 people, mostly children, in Kaduna's Chikun LGA on March 7. Further similar incidents are possible in the near term.
Search operations are likely to apprehend the kidnappers and rescue the victims, which may cause localized disruptions due to possible roadblocks, checkpoints, and search vehicles. Residents may assemble to protest insecurity. Armed clashes involving assailants and security forces cannot be ruled.
Exercise a high degree of caution if operating in Kaduna State, and particularly near the incident site, as authorities respond to the kidnapping. Heed the instructions of local security personnel; remain courteous and cooperative if stopped and questioned by law enforcement officers. Travel only in convoys during daylight hours. Maintain regular contact with your home country's diplomatic mission.
The kidnapping threat is particularly acute in the northwest, where officials have failed to curtail criminal activities despite various security measures implemented in recent years in Sokoto, Katsina, Kaduna, and Zamfara states, such as movement and business restrictions. Most kidnappings in Nigeria are financially motivated and conducted by criminal groups of varying levels of sophistication. Militant and/or extremist groups also conduct kidnappings that may be ideologically or financially motivated. Reports may attribute attacks and kidnappings to militant groups such as Boko Haram or those affiliated with the Islamic State or Al-Qaeda, historically based in the northeast.
