Gunmen have kidnapped 22 farmers from their fields around Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, Nigerian police said in the latest in a series of kidnappings in Africa’s most populous country. Gang elements, locally referred to as “bandits”, often attack rural areas in central and northwestern Nigeria, but mass kidnappings in the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria, which is also located in the center of the country, are rare.

“The kidnapping took place in Rafin Daji, an area (located) between the State of Niger and the Federal Capital Territory,” local police spokesman Odoneyi Amutayo told AFP. He explained that “it was confirmed that 22 farmers were abducted” while they were working in their fields.

He confirmed that the police and security forces attacked the forest where the kidnappers had taken refuge, without specifying the details of the rescue operation. In recent years, cases of violence committed by “bandits” have become more frequent. According to the NGO Acled, these criminal gangs killed more than 2,600 civilians in 2021, more than 250% more than in 2020.