News / Nigeria

At least 50 people killed in clashes with bandits in Nigeria

Saturday, 06 April 2019 5:41 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 06 April 2019 6:14 AM ]

A man tries to run away from a rickety road side shop as cars are set on fire following deadly clashes between supporters of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at Kofa in Bebeji district of Kano, economic nerve centre of northern Nigeria, on February 22, 2019. (Photo by AFP)

At least 50 people were killed in clashes with bandits in northwest Nigeria, which has been riven by cattle rustling and kidnapping, the state government said on Friday.

The speaker of Zamfara state parliament, Sunusi Rikiji, told reporters the deaths happened on Tuesday in Sakajiki village, in the Kauran Namoda area of Zamfara state.

"We received reports that members of the (civilian militia) mobilized people... and confronted the bandits in the forest, which resulted in the killing of at least 50 people," he said after returning from a visit to the area.

The victims were the militia themselves and other local residents they mobilized to help them, he added, condemning the vigilante force for confronting the gangs alone.

The bandits have long been a scourge of rural communities in Zamfara, raiding villages, stealing cattle, burning homes, looting food, and kidnapping for ransom.

A file picture taken and released on June 18, 2013 shows a resident inspecting a burnt house in the village of Kizara, after a group of bandits attacked the village, killing 48 people. (Photo by AFP)

Civilian militia groups comprising local people were formed as protection, given a lack of security personnel in hard-to-reach areas.

But the vigilante forces have only exacerbated violence and tit-for-tat attacks after being accused of extrajudicial killings of suspected bandits.

The state government outlawed the militia groups and deployed troops instead to curb unrest but with little success.

Last December an 8,500-strong militia force was reconstituted to assist the military and police in fighting the gangs, amid wider concerns about the rise in violence.

Nigeria faces a number of security challenges, including attacks from a Daesh-backed Boko Haram faction and renewed clashes between nomadic herders and farmers.

That has left the military overstretched and seen President Muhammadu Buhari criticized for failing to protect lives and property.

In Zamfara, an influential traditional chief called on the government to arm the vigilantes with assault riffles to defend themselves against the well-armed bandits.

Last month motorcycle-riding bandits gunned down 32 militia members outside Kware village in the Shinkafi district of Zamfara, according to the police.

(Source: AFP)

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