Gunmen have kidnapped more than 50 people in north-west Nigeria in a mass abduction, according to a private conflict monitoring report created for the UN and seen by Agence France-Presse on Sunday.

“Armed bandits” targeted the village of Sabon Garin Damri in Zamfara state Friday, the report said, the latest attack in a region where residents in rural hinterlands have long suffered gangs who kidnap for ransom, loot villages and demand taxes.

The report said this was the first “mass capture” incident in the Bakura local government area this year. “The recent trend of mass captures in Zamfara has been concerning,” it said, noting “a shift in bandit strategy toward more