At least 34 people lost their lives, including seven soldiers, in a brutal assault orchestrated by armed militants in Zamfara, a state in Northwestern Nigeria.
The attack in the remote Dan Gulbi district of the Maru local government area of the state occurred on Wednesday afternoon, Ismail Magaji, the head of the local vigilante group, told Reuters.
This latest act of violence throws a harsh light on the deepening crisis in Zamfara state, already embroiled in persistent confrontations with armed factions. The situation calls for an urgent elevation in security protocols and the implementation of effective counter-insurgency operations in the region. More information on this unfolding situation will be provided as details emerge.
Lawali Zonai, a resident, said, “27 villagers were killed in the attack while seven military personnel were ambushed on their way to aid the community from the gruesome attack.”
Zonai said, “Twenty-seven villagers were killed in the attack while seven military personnel were ambushed on their way to aid the community from the gruesome attack.”
A spokesperson for the Zamfara state police is yet to confirm the incident.
Gangs of heavily armed men, locally referred to as bandits, have wreaked havoc across Northern Nigeria in the past three years, kidnapping thousands, killing hundreds, and making it unsafe to travel by road or farm in some areas.
The attacks have confounded Nigeria’s security forces which are overstretched combating a 14-year Islamist insurgency in the northeast, violent farmer-herder and sectarian clashes in the central region, and rising attacks by a separatist group in the southeast.
