Nigeria extends phone blackout as crackdown on banditry spreads

YENAGOA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigerian authorities imposed a communications blackout on Monday in several parts of Sokoto state as a crackdown against armed kidnappers in the country's northwest region spreads.

Gangs of armed men seeking lucrative ransom payments, known locally as bandits, have spread across northwestern Nigeria over the past year, kidnapping more than 1,000 students from schools and taking others from hospitals, homes and roads.