Armed bandits have blocked the busy Gusau-Funtua highway in Zamfara State, abducting an unknown number of commuters in the early hours of Thursday.
According to reports, the bandits, heavily armed and riding about 50 motorcycles, stormed the Tazame axis of the highway around 7 a.m.
Yusuf Tsafe, a stranded commuter, told Channels Television that the attackers established a roadblock, seizing travelers and taking them into the nearby bush.
“They entered the road around 7 a.m., and till around 9 a.m, they were still there.
We just parked by the roadside waiting for the military to clear the road.
We can see the bandits taking people into the bush,” he said.
He added that a military gun truck had been dispatched to the scene, and gunshots could be heard, but the road remained closed.
“No vehicle has been allowed to pass,” Tsafe explained.
Another stranded traveler confirmed to Channels Television that the Magazu-Kucheri Road, which also links Gusau to Funtua, was similarly blocked by bandits.
“The military asked us to stop because the bandits had blocked the road.
We are still waiting for them to clear it,” the source reported.
Zamfara State Police Command spokesperson, ASP Yazid Abubakar, confirmed the deployment of additional troops, including Nigerian Police Mobile Squad operatives, to the affected areas to restore safety and reopen the roads.
Zamfara is one of several northwestern and central Nigerian states suffering from attacks by armed gangs.
These groups, motivated by ransom demands, frequently engage in mass abductions, looting, and village raids.
The bandits operate from camps located in dense forests that span Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, and Niger states.
In recent years, they have carried out large-scale kidnappings, including of schoolchildren, sparking concern about their increasing coordination with jihadist groups in the northeast.
Last month, bandits launched a deadly raid on four villages in Katsina State’s Sabuwa district, killing 25 people, mostly local vigilantes, in retaliation for military offensives on their hideouts.
