Hommam Al Nassim 
Armed men attacked the village of Munya in central Nigeria, killing at least 8 people and kidnapping about 150 others, local authorities announced Monday evening.
The head of the local authority, Aminu Abdul Hamid Njomi, said that gunmen on motorcycles attacked the village, killed eight people, and kidnapped about 150 other villagers, noting that among the eight dead were 4 villagers and 4 guards belonging to the local self-defense forces.
Nigeria, a country that is frequently exposed to this type of criminal and terrorist attacks, is witnessing mass kidnappings for the purpose of obtaining ransom in several states, including the northern, western and central states.
Groups such as “Boko Haram” and “ISIS West Africa” (Iswap) carry out these attacks, as the scope of their operations expands to include new areas.
The state where the attacks occurred is one of many states in northwestern and central Nigeria that have witnessed violence and fighting for years, as a result of conflicts between herders and farmers and other reasons.
For its part, Amnesty International expressed its “deep concern about the kidnapping of more than 160 people by armed men in the village of Kuchi, Munia local government area in Niger State.”
The organization noted that “the militants’ invasion of the village constitutes another indication of the Nigerian authorities’ abject failure to protect lives.”
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