LAGOS, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria's National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) said Wednesday armed bandits have kidnapped 42 passengers en-route to northwestern Kano state in the last 24 hours.

The incidents occurred Between evening of Tuesday and Wednesday's morning, a senior member of the NURTW told PR Nigeria, a local media in Abuja, the country's capital.

The report came in barely 24 hours after unknown gunmen abducted the wife of a serving commissioner and six others in northwest Zamfara State.

The leader, who required anonymity, said some of the drivers of the vehicles who escaped on sighting the kidnappers narrated their ordeal to the union.

The majority of the passengers including women and children were travelling to Kano when the kidnappings occurred, the source added.

Recent activities of armed bandits operating along Birnin-Gwari-Kaduna Highways where they recently kidnapped 107 passengers, prompted the Chief of Army Staff, Lt General Tukur Yusuf Buratai to charge troops to end the wanton killings and destruction of property in the axis in the past three weeks.

Concerned with the incessant kidnapping and killing, the NURTW in the area cautioned its members from plying the route pending deployment of troop and other security agencies.

An army commander said on Tuesday that 68 local bandits have been killed and others wounded in clashes with the army in Zamfara state since April.

More than a dozen attacks have been recorded in the region since the beginning of the year despite efforts to calm the situation by the Buhari administration.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari recently visited Zamfara where he met with traditional and community leaders over the security situation.

Last month, Buhari ordered the deployment of troops to Zamfara to end the incessant killings by armed bandits that claimed over 100 lives in the past few months.