An indigene of the area who gave his name as Garba Idi said those abducted were mostly women and children, adding that only five of them were men.
Idi, however, explained that five women have managed to escape and had returned home.
According to him, the bandits who were on motorcycles invaded the village and divided themselves into two groups.
He said, “They came to the village on motorcycles. Some of them stayed outside the village while the other group entered and started shooting sporadically.
“Many people mostly men were able to escape to the bush when they heard gunshots, while 39 women and children who could not ran were abducted by the terrorists”.
“However on their way to the forest, five women were able to run away and came back home”.
Idi stated that the terrorists on several occasions attacked the village, despite the huge sum of money they were collecting as levy from the community.
He maintained that the whole village was now empty as the people had fled to other places for fear of another attack.
He expressed displeasure that many people of the area were yet to harvest their crops as the bandits kept on telling them to pay a levy before they were allowed to harvest anything.
Efforts made to reach the police were futile as the spokesperson of the state command, Mohammed Shehu, could not be reached on phone after several attempts.
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