Nigeria troops rescue scores of kidnap victims in Zamfara state

Nigeria troops have rescued 64 women and children kidnapped by criminal gangs weeks ago in northwestern Zamfara state.

"All the 64 women and children kidnapped from the village were released by their captors due to the military operations conducted by troops in the area," Zamafara state governor's spokesman Suleiman Bala Idris said on Thursday.

He said a massive deployment of troops to Zamfara in the past week had "changed the trend" with troops taking the battle to bandit camps.

"This strategy has put pressure on the terrorists, forcing them to flee to neighbouring states and abandoning their captives," he said.

Mass kidnappings for ransom are common in Nigeria's northwest and central states, where heavily armed gangs known locally as bandits often target remote villages to loot and abduct residents.

Early last month gunmen raided the remote Gidan Danzara village in the Zurmi district of Zamfara, taking 64 women and children captive and demanded ransom for their release.

Idris denied any ransom was paid, but residents claimed they had to pay the bandits to secure their release.

Ransom payments to kidnappers is illegal in Nigeria, but families often say they end up selling properties and taking loans to raise cash to free abducted relatives.

Details about Nigerian kidnap rescues are also often unclear with contradictory statements emerging from relatives of victims and authorities over ransom or negotiations with captors.

Pay for releases

The criminal gangs, who maintain hidden camps in a vast forest straddling Zamfara, Kaduna, Katsina and Niger states, are notorious for mass abductions, even targeting schools and colleges.

But Sa'idu Abbakar, from Gidan Danzara, said they were forced to pay for the releases as well as a fee for protection money to allow them to farm in the area without being harassed by the gangs.

Another resident Faruku Yahaya made the same claim, saying they paid from contributions and donations from "far and near".

"We had no option but to pay the ransom which was the only way to get our women and children back," Yahaya said.

Zamfara is one several states in Northwest and central Nigeria terrorised for years by bandit militias, whose roots were in grievances and disputes between nomadic herders and pastoral farmers over land and resources.

Those disputes spiralled into wider criminality especially in areas with little state presence.

The bandit militias have no ideological leaning and are motivated by financial gain, but officials and analysts have expressed concern over a growing pragmatic alliance with militants from Nigeria's northeast who are waging a 15-year old insurgency.