TheCable

Gunmen have abducted 44 passengers along the Birnin-Gwari-Kaduna highway in Kaduna state.

According to witnesses, the victims were kidnapped on two different occasions — Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning.

The female victims were reportedly stripped before being taken inside the bush.

In the Wednesday incident, 21 people said to be traveling in three Golf vehicles from Birnin-Gwari to Kano were abducted.

On Tuesday, a Sharon bus said to be conveying 17 passengers and six other people in a trailer and a tanker were abducted on the highway.

Danladi Duniya, chairman of the taxi section of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in Birnin Gwari, confirmed the development to journalists on Wednesday.

He said villagers had seen clothes belonging to female passengers in the cars at the scene of for abduction.

“They probably stripped the women among them of their clothes before taking them away but up till now nobody has contacted us,” he said.

When contacted, Hussain Aliyu, spokesman of the Kaduna police command, could not immediately confirm the development.

He told TheCable that he would get back “later.”

Birnin-Gwari has been under series of attacks — by bandits and armed robbers — recently.

On Sunday, three housewives were abducted when gunmen invaded Maganda village in the local government area.

The attacks are being carried out despite the military base recently inaugurated in the area.