Bandits have kidnapped scores of Tsangaya schoolchildren at Gidan Bakuso in Gada local government area of Sokoto state.
The students were seized from their school around 1:am on Saturday.
The proprietor of the school, Liman Abubakar, revealed that 15 students were unaccounted so far but “we are still counting.”
He said the bandits attacked the town around 1am, shot one person and kidnapped a woman.
“As they were leaving the town, they sighted our students rushing into their rooms and they kidnapped many of them.
“We have so far counted 15 who are missing and we are still searching for more,” he said
Abubakar said the village has been attacked severally by gunmen.
The member, representing Gada-East Constituency at the state House of Assembly, Kabiru Dauda while said he got a call from the village around 2am that it was being attacked by gunmen.
“I reached out to the local government authorities and security agencies and I am sure they are doing something about it,” he said.
The attackers murdered three persons at Turba village in Isa Local Government Area of the state, including the village head.
A member representing, Isa Constituency, Habibu Modachi said it was a reprisal after security operatives raided bandits’ hideouts two days ago.
The spokesperson of the Sokoto State Police Command, ASP Ahmad Rufa’i, said he was not aware of the development but he would contact the Divisional Police Officer of the local government areas and get back to our reporter.
This invasion came at a time the state’s Community Guards Corps, set up by state government aimed at curtailing banditry was passing out.