Not less than 13 women who were on their way to a wedding ceremony have been reportedly kidnapped by bandits around Manini and Udawa towns along Kaduna-Birnin Gwari Highway.

DailyTrust reported that the bandits intercepted vehicles conveying the women on Thursday afternoon before whisking them away, including a seven-year-old boy, to an unknown destination.

Confirming the abduction, a community leader, Muhammed Umar, revealed that the bandits blocked the road to pick their victims and would have taken more people but for the intervention of soldiers.

He said, “All the 13 women, majority housewives, were from Udawa on their way to Birnin Gwari to attend a wedding.

“Some of the women are from the same family, like Zainab Abu Jibril the senior wife of Malam Jibril Ibrahim and her five daughters were all abducted alongside others from other families with their infants.”

Attempts to reach the State Police Command’s Public Relations Officer, ASP Jalige Mohammed, for comments proved futile as of the time of filing this report.