Scores killed in fresh Zamfara attack

Zamfara state is under siege by bandits who kill with impunity and then escape.

Police in Zamfara state has confirmed the death of at least 30 people in fresh attack on some villages by armed bandit.

Spokesman of the police in the state, Mohammed Shehu, said motorcycle-riding gunmen attacked Kware village in Shinkafi district, opening fire on residents and burning homes, villagers.

They came around 4:00 pm and opened fire on the village, shooting anyone on sight and burning houses,” Kware resident Alu Wadatau said.

“We recovered 34 bodies after the attack and many more residents have not been accounted for,” he added.

The attack came just three days after bandits killed 32 vigilantes in Kware, at a checkpoint set up by locals, police, and residents had told AFP.

The vigilantes were part of a militia force providing security for traders in the area, with besieged communities taking security into their own hands.

Deadly attacks have raged across the northwest where bandits have thrived.

Farming and herding communities in Zamfara and the wider region have long been terrorised by gangs who raid villages, stealing cattle and kidnapping residents for ransom.

Last week some 60 people died in multiple raids on rural villages in Zamfara and Sokoto State.

The repeat attacks on rural villages, often with little protection from security forces, have spurred a rise in armed vigilante groups.

Yet the groups have been accused of extrajudicial killings of suspected bandits, leading to reprisals and escalating insecurity.

In recent months the criminal gangs launched attacks in neighboring Kaduna and Katsina states, abducting residents for ransom.

On Saturday five villagers were killed in clashes with bandits in Sabon Sara village in Kaduna state’s Giwa district near the border with Zamfara, according to the police and residents.

Zamfara is a political stronghold for President Muhammadu Buhari, who won the state in recent presidential elections that handed him a second four-year term.