TELL Magazine

No fewer than 30 people have been killed by armed bandits in a village in Zamfara State.
Gunmen who rode on motorbikes attacked Kware village in Shinkafi district on Sunday night, opening fire on residents and burning homes.
Mohammed Shehu, Police Spokesman in the state said:
“I can confirm 30 people were killed by the bandits in the attack in Kware.” 
Residents of the area were quoted as saying the casualty figure exceeds that, adding that no fewer than 34 dead bodies had been buried with several other persons still missing.
“They came around 4:00 pm and opened fire on the village, shooting anyone on sight and burning houses,” a resident was quoted to have said.
The attack came just three days after bandits killed 32 vigilantes in Kware, at a checkpoint set up by locals and the police.
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.