More than 50 people were seized in a mass abduction in Zamfara State, North West, according to a private conflict monitoring report prepared over the weekend for the United Nations.

The attack took place on Friday in the village of Sabon Garin Damri in Bakura local government area. The report described the assailants as “armed bandits,” and noted that it was the first mass kidnapping in Bakura this year.

It warned of “a shift in bandit strategy towards more large-scale attacks in northern Zamfara.”

Police in Zamfara have yet to comment on the incident.

Mass abductions have become a hallmark of Nigeria’s worsening security crisis, especially in rural parts of the northwest where criminal gangs have taken root.

What began as clashes between herders and farmers over land and water rights has evolved into organised crime, with armed groups carrying out kidnappings for ransom, looting villages and imposing taxes on farmers and artisanal miners.

The violence has displaced thousands and deepened a growing malnutrition crisis in the region as people abandon farms. Climate change and cuts in western aid have further complicated the situation.

Last month, 33 kidnapped villagers in Zamfara were killed despite a $33,700 ransom being paid. Three infants also died in captivity, according to officials.

Analysts said the bandit networks, which emerged as arms trafficking surged across the Sahel, are increasingly working with jihadist groups, including the newly active Lakurawa faction in the North West.

Two weeks ago, Nigerian forces killed, at least, 95-armed gang members in Niger State during a military operation supported by air strikes, though the army remains overstretched.

Violence in the northwest has also spread into north-central Nigeria, adding pressure on security forces already fighting a 16-year Islamist insurgency in the North East.