In Kebbi, Bandits Assassinate 57 Vigilantes

A security source and local residents said on Tuesday that gunmen suspected of being bandits killed at least 57 members of a local vigilante group in clashes in northwestern Nigeria.

The violence in Kebbi State’s Zuru district was confirmed by police on Monday, but no casualties were reported. However, a security source claimed that 57 bodies had been found, while two local residents claimed that 62 people had been killed.

Read Also:  Adeleke Emerges As Party’s Candidate In Osun PDP primary

Local residents frequently form Yansakai, or informal vigilante units, to protect villages from bandit raids, though some states have outlawed them after allegations of abuses and extrajudicial killings.

“There was an incident involving Yansakai and bandits that left several dead on both sides,” said Nafiu Abubakar, spokesman for the State Police Command. We don’t have a specific death toll yet; we’re still compiling information.”

Almu Sallami, a local resident, said vigilantes from various villages had gathered to confront a large convoy of heavily armed bandits.

Criminal gangs maintain camps in Rugu forest, which straddles Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, and Niger states, in northwest and central Nigeria.

Read Also:  Atomic bomb: US, others urged to act Fast to prevent 3rd world war

According to police, the bandits attack villages in Kebbi state near the border with Zamfara and Niger states on a regular basis before retreating to their camps.

Anxiety as the FG goes to court to prosecute terrorist financiers Trending Anxiety as the FG goes to court to prosecute terrorist financiers
Bandit gangs, motivated by financial gain, are increasingly forming alliances with jihadists from the northeast, who are fighting a 12-year-old Islamist insurgency, according to security experts.