Gunmen abduct 42 people in northwestern Nigeria

Abuja: Gunmen abducted 42 passengers in Nigeria’s northwestern state of Kaduna in two separate incidents this week, according to the National Union of Transport Workers.

Twenty one passengers were kidnapped along the Birnin Gwari-Kaduna road on Tuesday evening, and 21 more were taken the following morning on the same road, the regional union chairman, Danladi Idon Duniya, said by phone.

The Boko Haram militant group, which is in the ninth year of an insurgency, sparked an international outcry when it abducted 219 schoolgirls in the northeastern town of Chibok in April 2014.