Gunmen raided the village of Yargoje in northwest Nigeria over the weekend, leaving at least 50 people dead and an unspecified number kidnapped, including women and children, according to residents on Monday.
Despite President Bola Tinubu’s pledge to address insecurity, attacks by armed gangs, often called bandits, have become almost commonplace in the northwest. The authorities appear unable to quell these incidents.
According to resident Hassan Ya’u, dozens of gunmen on motorbikes descended on Yargoje in the Kankara local government area of Katsina state late on Sunday. “They shot sporadically at people, claiming the lives of more than 50 (of us), including my younger brother,” he recounted.
Abdullahi Yunusa Kankara, another resident, narrowly escaped the attack, describing the village as a “death zone” where almost every household was affected. He mentioned ongoing efforts to ascertain the number of abductees, with more casualties discovered on Monday morning.
While Katsina police authorities did not immediately comment on the incident, rural areas in northern Nigeria continue to witness frequent attacks and kidnappings, amid a backdrop of a 15-year Islamist insurgency in the northeast and violent conflicts between farmers and herders in north-central regions.
