Bandits ambush, kill at least 30 in North Nigeria, police report

Armed men killed 30 people in weekend raids on six villages in Nigeria’s north, a region regularly hit by criminal violence and clashes between communities, local police have said. Attackers on motorcycles “killed eight people in Raka, seven in Bilingawa, six in Jaba, four in Dabagi, three in Raka Dutse and two in Tsalewa villages,” Ahmad Rufai, Sokoto police spokesman said in a statement received Monday 5th, June 2023.

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The bandits demanded protection money from residents

However, residents from two of the affected villages said 36 people were killed in the attacks which they said were reprisals for their refusal to pay protection money to the bandits. “We buried 36 people yesterday (Sunday) who were killed by the bandits,” Kasimu Musa, a resident of Raka Dutse, told AFP. Communal violence is just one security challenge facing recently sworn-in President Bola Tinubu who won a February presidential ballot marred by opposition accusations of vote rigging.

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The area has for several years been wracked by deadly conflict between herders and farmers over grazing and water rights. The conflict has spiralled into broader criminality with gangs of so-called bandits, comprising mostly herders, carrying out deadly raids on villages to steal livestock, kidnap for ransom and burn homes after looting them.

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There has been an increase in tit-for-tat killings between the bandits and vigilante groups set by local communities in recent times, prompting the state authorities to attempt peace negotiations. Authorities and security analysts have expressed concern over alliances between the so-called bandits, who are motivated by financial gains, and jihadists waging a 14-year-old insurgency in the northeast.

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