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Local government officials in Nigeria's north central Kaduna state said gunmen kidnapped more than 100 people between Saturday and Sunday from the region.
Kidnappings by criminal gangs and terror groups demanding ransom payments have become an almost daily occurrence in Nigeria, especially in the north, with authorities seemingly powerless to stop them.
A local official told Nigerian media that gunmen carried out an attack around 10 p.m. local time Sunday in Kajuru-Station village of Kaduna State, taking 87 people, including women and children. Officials said the assailants also broke into shops to steal food and other provisions.
The officials said the kidnappings came the day after 16 others - 15 women and a man - were taken in a separate attack in the nearby Dogon Noma community.
In an interview with Reuters news agency, village leader Tanko Wada Sarkin said five of the people returned after fleeing the attackers through the bush. He said the bandits have attacked the community five times in recent days.
The events follow a mass kidnapping earlier this month of more than 280 students in Kaduna's Kuriga town. The children are thought to be held hostage in the remote forests throughout the region.
After that kidnapping, the U.N. Nigeria humanitarian coordinator, Mohamed Malick Fall, issued a statement condemning the abduction and called for the immediate release of the victims.
Fall called on Nigerian authorities to provide more job opportunities to IDPs within their camps, so they don't have to venture out and expose themselves to gangs and terrorists.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.