Gunmen stormed the Federal University of Gusau and kidnapped all the female students in the three hostels they attacked early Friday morning.
The gunmen in large numbers also attacked the Sabon-Gida community of the Bungudu Local Government Area of Zamfara State.
Soldiers engaged the bandits in a fierce gun battle, but they escaped with the victims.
It was learnt that the gunmen stormed the community around 3am and started shooting sporadically.
“They entered the town around 3 am and started shooting indiscriminately. We have yet to confirm the number of students kidnapped because the bandits entered three hostels and kidnapped all the students there. It is difficult to ascertain their numbers now.
“They were seriously engaged with the army troops but the way these bandits operate, they will divide themselves into two, one group will move with the kidnapped victims while the other will stay behind to protect the first group.
“The first group had left with the students while the second group engaged the army in a gun duel,” a local revealed.
A video clip showed a student of the institution narrating how the attackers accessed the hostels, saying that the attackers broke into the hostels through the windows and ceiling.
He said, “They (the bandits) forced their way through the windows. They dragged them out through the window. Look here. And know which of the rooms is hers. Maybe this it’s this room.”
The kidnapping of the female students happened a few days after a reporter of Voice of Nigeria (VON) in Zamfara, Hamisu Danjibga, was kidnapped and found dead.
Danjibga was kidnapped in his Samaru house in the heart of Gusau, the Zamfara State capital, around 8pm on Sunday.
His attackers called 24 hours after they seized him and demanded one million naira as part payment before they placed full ransom for his release
His corpse was found three days after his abduction, in a soak away behind his house.
