Residents said the terrorists used a bus instead of their usual motorcycles to beat security and locals intelligence.

Suspected bandits have kidnapped the Vice Chairman of Bukkuyum Local Government, Bala Muhamemad, and several other passengers on a Zamfara state highway.

Residents said the terrorists used a bus for the operation, instead of their usual motorcycles, so as to beat security and local intelligence.

Mr Muhammad was abducted alongside three staff members of the council and other passengers Monday evening while they travelled from Bukkuyum to Gusau, the state's capital.

A resident, Haruna Malam, told reporters that the gang moved the passengers from their vehicles at gunpoint into bus parked a few meters from the main road.

Usman Dantsoho, a tree cutter from Gadarmanya village of Anka LGA, escaped the abduction.

Mr Dantsoho said he saw the terrorists' bus riding with the victims into the forest.

"I was in the bush with my cart to cut trees and fetch my dried firewood that I kept, only to hear four rounds gunshot from the Anka-Bukuyum road.

"I quickly ran away from my location and climbed up a tree. I saw the armed gang attack a moving vehicle and abducted the people in it.

"I returned home only to be told that the vice chairman of Bukuyum LGA was among those kidnapped," the tree cutter told reporters in Zamfara.

Bukkuyum is one of the local government areas in Zamfara frequently attacked by bandits, alongside Shinkafi, Maradun, Zurmi, Anka, Talata Mafara, and Tsafe.

The police spokesperson in Zamfara, Abubakar Sadiq, could not be reached on phone to comment on the development.