Bandits have killed at least 30 people, abducted several others, mostly women, in separate attacks Friday afternoon in Zamfara State.
The attacked communities are Nasarawar Mai Fara in Tsafe local government area, Yar Katsina in Bungudu local government area and Nasarawa village in Bakura local government area.
Zamfara, like many of the Nigerian North-West States, is beleaguered by insecurity in the forms of kidnapping described as banditry. The crime has become rampant and the bandits are seemingly irrepressible.
Thousands of people have been killed or kidnapped by the bandits in the region and extending to Niger State, since 2021.
In the first three weeks of 2022, at least 486 people were killed by non-State actors across Nigeria, over half of them by bandits in the North-west and Niger State.
Multiple sources told newsmen that the attack on Nasarawar Mai Fara, in Tsafe local government area, was due to the failure of the residents to pay a N40 million levy imposed by the bandits.
The levy was imposed by Ada Aleru, a notorious banditry kingpin operating in the area and the Faskari part of Katsina State. A resident of Tsafe, Abubakar Bala,
said residents could not pay the levy, hence the attack.
Also, in Bakura area, a health worker, Masud Kyambarawa, told newsmen that three people, including the chief imam of the area, Akilu Dan Malam, were killed.
In Yar Katsina village of Bungudu, the bandits stopped people from attending the Muslims Jumu’ah prayers.
A source, who asked not to be named for security reasons, told this reporter that when the bandits stormed the village, people were already at the only Jumuah mosque but dispersed immediately.
Bala, of Tsafe, lamented the increasing number of attacks on villages and abduction of motorists on the Funtua Gusau highway. According to him, The dangerous spots are Sheme to Yankara and the axis around Kucheri, a few metres before Tsafe.
The State Police Command spokesperson, Mohammed Shehu, promised to verify the information and get back to this reporter but had not done that as of the time of filing this report.
