Farmers say they're now scared of going to their farms as attacks have increased.
Several farmers working on their farms were abducted Tuesday morning when terrorists attacked five communities in the Batsari area of Katsina State.
The farmers taken were from Nahuta, Madogara, Dan Tsuntsu, Zamfarawa and Salihar Dadare villages.
A health worker in the Dan Tsuntsu community who sought anonymity for security reasons said at the last count around 8:00p.m on Tuesday, 35 people, primarily farmers working on their farms were still missing after the attacks.
"The bandits began their operations (attacks) around 9:00 a.m. when farmers started working on their farms. They would just go into the farm, scare people and abduct the unlucky ones," he said over the phone. He was in Batsari town when a PREMIUM TIMES reporter called him, and he said he might not be returning to Dan Tsuntsu anytime soon.
He said in his village alone, more than 10 farmers were abducted.
The terrorists, who arrived in the area in motorcycles, abducted men and women, including children working on their farms, and took them into a part of the Rugu forest, which the terrorists from Katsina and Zamfara use as hideouts.
"My nephew was among those abducted. He is a twelve-year-old boy and couldn't run when the bandits started shooting into the air. He went to the farm with his father, my older brother. It was later that we saw my brother who ran, but the son is still with the terrorists," another local from Dan Tsuntsu, who also asked not to be named, told PREMIUM TIMES over the phone.
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"We don't go to our farms now because of fear of attacks," another resident, Bello Nahuta, told PREMIUM TIMES. "Even last week, they came on over sixty motorcycles and abducted several people, including my neighbour. His family had to pay N100,000 to secure his release. Things are becoming hard for us."
When contacted, the police spokesperson in the state, Abubakar Sadik, said 14 people were kidnapped during the attack.
"Fourteen people were kidnapped in Madogara village. Investigation is ongoing as efforts are on with a view to rescuing the kidnapped victims and arresting the perpetrators, please," he said in a message sent to PREMIUM TIMES.
Terrorists operating in the North-west, especially Zamfara, Katsina and Sokoto states, are known to intensify attacks during the rainy season which residents believe is to compel local authorities into dialogue with them.
"The rainy season also gives them the opportunity to launch attacks and quickly hide without the security agents able to trace them. They also intensify such attacks during the season to make life difficult for the Hausa people in the local communities because they know farming is the most important occupation to the Hausas," Saifullahi Kauraye, a public affairs analyst, said.
