Residents of the Zamfara community said most of the abducted persons are women and children

At least 11 people were on Sunday killed and 20 others abducted when bandits attacked the Gidan Zuma community in Bungudu Local Government Area of Zamfara State.

Residents said the abducted victims were mostly women and children. They said the attackers were unchallenged after local vigilantes manning the community went to defend a neighbouring community under attack.

Gidan Zuma is a few kilometres from Bungudu town, the headquarters of the local government, which is about 12 kilometres from Gusau, the Zamfara State capital.

Until Sunday's incident, the community rarely suffered attacks due to its local defence mechanism that scared away armed bandits.

"The attackers invaded the town on Sunday after they got a hint that our vigilante members went to assist the neighbouring community that was under attack," a resident told PREMIUM TIMES asking not to be named for security reasons.

"The gunmen first killed five people at the entrance of the town and killed six others at the climax of their operation inside the town."

Another resident whose wife and child were among those abducted told BBC Hausa service on Monday how the attack happened.

He said the attack happened during the day when most of the residents were observing the Islamic Ramadan fast.

"I don't know the condition of my family now, I watched as they went away with my wife backing the child, I was helpless," he said.

When PREMIUM TIMES contacted the police spokesperson in Zamfara, Yazeed Abubakar, he said he was out for an official engagement and is yet to be briefed about the incident.

Zamfara is one of the states most affected by terrorism in North-west Nigeria. Different terror groups, locally called bandits, operate in the region, killing and kidnapping residents at will.

The terrorists travel in a long convoy of motorcycles to reach their targets despite the presence of security personnel in the areas.