More than 70 travellers have been reportedly abducted along the Kaduna-Birnin Gwari road in Kaduna State.

According to Channels Television, the incident occurred around Udawa village after Buruku in Chikun Local Government Area of the state on Wednesday.

A witness account said the vehicles conveying the travellers, mainly traders, were attacked by gunmen suspected to be bandits in their large number.

While witnesses said the travellers, who were later taken into the forest were more than 70, the state police command said 48 were later rescued.

Spokesperson of the command, Mohammed Jalige, said operatives of the Buruku Divisional Police station, who were escorting passengers along the road, came under attack by an unspecified number of gunmen, who opened fire on the moving vehicles.

He explained that the police operatives successfully repelled the attack through superior firepower, before rescuing 48 of the passengers.

According to him, there was no casualty on the part of the police operatives and the attackers, adding that the rescued victims were in good health and later continued their journey.

Banditry attacks, especially on highways, have become commonplace in Kaduna State, where terror groups kidnap, kill and steal from innocent citizens.

Other states suffering from similar attacks are Zamfara, Sokoto, Katsina in the Northwest region and Niger in the Northcentral.

The attacks have continued despite the heavy deployment of security personnel to the region.

With the attacks, Nigeria is now perceived as a county under siege.

Aside from insurgency, virtually all parts of the country currently battle one form of insecurity or the other, with various crimes going on, largely unabated.

While the Northcentral is also plagued by bandits and criminal herders who operate in parts of Kogi, Benue and Nassarawa, the Northeast is still fighting a decade-long battle war with Boko Haram and other insurgency groups, such as ISWAP.

PT