150 GUNMEN ATTACK VILLAGE IN ZAMFARA STATE

An armed gang has raided a village in
Zamfara State, northwest Nigeria, and killed
48 people in an apparent reprisal attack
targeting a local vigilante group, a state
official said Wednesday.
The attack saw gunmen move house to
house as well as take positions atop a hill
and open fire, the official said. Houses were
also burnt, but it was not clear how many.
“There was an attack by armed bandits early
Tuesday on Kizara village where 48
residents were killed in apparent targeted
killings by cattle rustlers that have been
terrorising the state for some time now,”
said Ibrahim Birnin-Magaji, commissioner
for information in Zamfara State, where the
remote village is located.
Dozens of gunmen arrived in the village
before dawn on motorbikes, he told AFP.
“Some of them climbed up the hill
overlooking the village and opened fire
indiscriminately,” he said.
“They later moved house to house, telling
residents that they were looking for
members of local vigilante (groups) whom
they said had been disturbing them.”
He said those killed included the Village
Head, Alhaji Lawali Muhammad, the Chief
Imam, Alhaji Usman Adamu, and his
assistant.
The Commissioner of Police in Zamfara, Mr
Usman Gwary, who visited the village under
tight security, confirmed that 32 persons
were killed while the villagers claimed that
58 persons lost their lives.
The police chief told newsmen that he had
mobilised his men to search for the fleeing
gunmen.
“The police from nearby Keta mobilised and
engaged the bandits in a shootout, but they
were overwhelmed by the gunmen’s
superior firepower and were forced to
retreat,” said Birnin-Magaji. The Chairman of
Tsafe Local Government Council, Alhaji Aliyu
Abubakar, also said the villagers had been
living in fear since suspected men of the
underworld sent a letter to the head of the
vigilance group threatening to kill him.
Following the attack also, several residents
of the village were seen fleeing the village
for fear that the attackers would return to
kill them.
Many villages in Nigeria form local vigilante
groups to defend themselves against violent
cattle rustlers or other criminal gangs,
sometimes leading to a cycle of clashes and
reprisal attacks.