Terrorists have abducted no fewer than 319 people in Kaduna State within the last 20 days, FIJ has gathered.

On February 28, terrorists believed to be hiding in the bushes of Birnin Gwari invaded the Gonin Gora area of the state, killed two residents and abducted 16 others.

What followed was a massive protest on the Abuja-Kaduna highway. According to media reports, the Gonin Gora residents’ demand was for the government to help rescue the abductees and set up a military base in the area to prevent further attacks.

Despite their efforts to draw the government’s attention, terrorists struck again only nine days later. At about 8 am on March 8, gunmen rode into a school in the Chikun area of the state on motorcycles.

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These terrorists marched hundreds of children into the bushes, and they have remained missing since. Officials say 287 people were kidnapped. The distance between Gonin Gora community and Chikun is 35 kilometres.

No group has taken responsibility for the abductions, but locals have received ransom demands. For the freedom of the abducted Gonin Gora residents, their captors want N40 trillion, 11 Hillux vans and 150 motorcycles, while the abductors of the schoolchildren want N1 billion.

On Saturday, the state suffered another abduction as terrorists invaded the Kajuru area to kidnap 15 women and one man, taking the number of abductees in the state to at least 319 in the last 18 days.

FIJ called Mansir Hassan, the spokesman of the Kaduna State Police Command, but he asked that we send him a text message. As of press time, he had not responded to our message.