Terrorists operating in Zamfara, North West Nigeria, have abducted about 20 locals, including a central mosque imam and a newlywed couple in the Maru area of the state. The armed group invaded Maru town during a midnight raid that lasted for about two hours on Thursday,  Feb. 13.

Alkali Suleiman, 63, the chief imam of the 1st Jumu’at Central Mosque in Maru, was among the abductees. Other victims of the raid include Muhammad Suleiman and his wife; they were kidnapped on the first night after their wedding ceremony. The abduction of the new couple came a few hours after the bride, Balkisu Muhammad, moved into her husband’s house on Feb.12.

A local who managed to escape the abduction told HumAngle that about 20 people were kidnapped during the night raid. Locals claimed the attack was targeted at the chief imam of the central mosque following his vigorous prayers and calls for drastic actions against the rampaging terrorists of Maru.

“Like hyenas, the bandits sneak in to kidnap people every night in Maru. The last attack was two weeks ago, which led to the successful abduction of 16 people including the deputy imam of the same mosque,” a resident of the town, Usman Muhd, told HumAngle. 

Another local, Yahaya Abdullahi, said he was worried about the security presence in Maru. He noted that despite several complaints to authorities, no concrete steps have been taken to tackle the problem.

“To be sincere, the presence of soldiers is useless to us. Authorities of Maru LGA have to take serious action against the bad attitude of the army in the fight against the terrorists. Otherwise, we would take laws into our hands to protect our communities from terrorist invasions. How can the well-armed soldiers be watching the terrorists attacking us yet they fold their arms and claim ignorance of the attack?” Yahaya said.

Yazid Abubakar, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state is yet to respond to HumAngle ‘s inquiries on the latest attack.