No fewer than 36 residents of Keke B Area of New Millennium City in Chikun local government area of Kaduna State were kidnapped by bandits who invaded the community on Monday night.

The attack it was gathered occurred around 9:00pm Monday night when many residents were yet to return from work.

Though men of the Millennium City Police Division were still in the area to ascertain the number of people kidnapped, a resident told our correspondent that about 36 people were kidnapped.

A resident, who confirmed the attack, told LEADERSHIP that, "The kidnappers came around 9:00pm when it was raining. So, people were not alerted early enough, because the rain was heavy. They kidnapped about 36 people. Most of the people kidnapped were just returning home and ran into the bandits during the attack."

An eyewitness said that the bandits operated from house to house unchallenged.

According to another resident, Muhammad Salihu, "Many of us were still outside when the bandits attacked because it was quite early around 9pm. They came in a large number, shooting sporadically and brandishing dangerous weapons.

"They broke into people's houses one after the other and kidnap the occupants. One person, a motorcycle mechanic, was able to escape from the kidnappers, but they went away with 36 residents."

Spokesperson of the Kaduna State Police Command, DSP Mohammed Jalige, could not be reached as his known phone lines were not connecting and no official statement from the state government as at the time of filing this report.