By Prosper Mene
In an act of violence that has left a rural community reeling, armed bandits stormed Yan Kwada village in the Faruruwa area of Shanono Local Government Area, Kano State, late Sunday night, abducting five women, four of whom were nursing mothers and ruthlessly discarding their infants before fleeing with the captives and a herd of livestock.
The attack, which occurred around 9 p.m., saw the assailants arrive on motorcycles, firing shots into the air to terrorize residents and force their way into homes. Eyewitnesses described a scene of chaos as the gunmen, armed with sophisticated weapons, targeted vulnerable households, separating the mothers from their newborns in a heart-wrenching display of cruelty. “They threw the babies away like trash and dragged the women into the night,” recounted one villager, speaking on condition of anonymity out of fear for their safety.
Yahaya Bagobiri, chairman of the Faruruwa community security committee, confirmed the harrowing details in interviews with local media outlets. He revealed that while five women were initially seized, one managed a daring escape, reuniting with her family and leaving four nursing mothers in the bandits’ clutches. The raiders also made off with approximately 50 cows and an unspecified number of other animals, compounding the economic devastation on an already impoverished agrarian community.
This incident marks yet another escalation in the wave of banditry plaguing Kano’s border regions with Katsina State, where criminal gangs have intensified operations amid shifting dynamics in neighboring areas. Just days prior, security forces repelled a similar incursion in the same locality, neutralizing 19 attackers in a fierce firefight. However, Bagobiri expressed profound frustration over the apparent lapses in response. “We alerted the military and other agencies yesterday when we heard the bandits were approaching, but nothing was done until they struck at 9 p.m.,” he lamented. “These attacks happen almost daily, despite the heavy security presence. Our people are living in constant fear.”
The abductions have ignited urgent calls for defenses and cross-state collaboration.
Community elders and traditional leaders are appealing to Kano State authorities to intensify patrols and coordinate with Katsina, where recent peace accords with bandit factions have reportedly displaced criminal elements into adjoining territories. “Kano must reinforce its frontline security or risk total destabilization from these spillover effects,” warned a senior traditional figure from the area, emphasizing the need for swift rescue operations to save the captives.
As of Monday evening, the Kano State Police Command had not issued an official statement on the incident, though villagers hold out hope for immediate action. The fate of the four abducted mothers remains uncertain, with families pleading for their safe return amid growing outrage over the vulnerability of women and children in Nigeria’s restive north.
