A community leader, who spoke anonymously for security reasons, has confirmed that the latest attack took place on Tuesday night at about 9pm.
Suspected bandits have reportedly kidnapped the Chief Imam of the Janjala Central Mosque, Malam Bello Abdullahi, and the area’s Fulani leader, Alhaji Shehu Bello, along with a woman, during coordinated assaults on several communities in Kagarko Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
According to reports, the armed attackers stormed multiple villages, including Iddo, Gidan-Makeri, Kohoto and Janjala, where they abducted residents and rustled cattle, triggering widespread panic and forcing many villagers to flee their homes.
The fresh abductions were made public on Saturday morning by a security source, @DanKatsina50, in a post on X (formerly Twitter). A community leader later corroborated the report, confirming that the most recent raid occurred late Tuesday evening.
The source said the bandits arrived in large numbers, heavily armed with AK-47 rifles. They reportedly went straight to the residence of the Chief Imam and abducted him before moving on to the home of the Fulani leader, at which point residents began fleeing in fear. During the operation, the attackers also seized a woman and made away with several cattle.
In the aftermath of the attacks, residents of the affected communities, particularly those from Kohoto, deserted their villages en masse, seeking refuge in Kagarko town and the neighbouring Sabon-Wuse area. The community leader described the atmosphere as one of total panic, noting that many families spent the night hiding in nearby bushes before making their way to safer locations.
The latest incident reportedly occurred just days after the bandits issued a seven-day ultimatum, demanding a ₦6 million ransom for the release of a woman and her four children who had been abducted earlier. Community leaders said the deadline passed without any rescue effort or visible security response, after which the attackers returned with renewed violence.
Residents expressed frustration over what they described as the absence of meaningful intervention by security agencies, despite repeated distress calls to the police and the military. They said the abduction of key religious and community leaders has left them feeling completely vulnerable.
The security situation in Kagarko LGA has continued to deteriorate, with villages deserted, farmlands abandoned and economic activities brought to a standstill as fear spreads across the area. The local government, which lies along a strategic route linking southern Kaduna to Niger State, has experienced frequent bandit attacks in recent years, including killings, mass kidnappings and cattle rustling, despite official claims of improved security.
As of the time of filing this report, neither the Kaduna State Police Command nor the state government had issued an official statement on the latest abductions.
The incident has once again cast doubt on the effectiveness of security operations in rural parts of Kaduna State, particularly in Kagarko, where residents say armed groups continue to operate with little resistance. Displaced villagers are now appealing to the federal and Kaduna State governments to urgently deploy security forces, secure the release of the abducted victims and prevent further attacks on already traumatised communities.