Over 50 people have been killed in Kebbi following raids and attacks by armed bandits. 

Reuters reports that the bandits on motorbikes ransacked a village and killed more than 50 people. 

Local elder Abdullahi Karman Unashi told Reuters that the gunmen entered Dankade village on Friday night and exchanged gunfire with soldiers and policemen.

“They killed two soldiers, one police officer and 50 villagers. (They) kidnapped the community leader of Dankade and many villagers, mostly women and children,” Mr Unashi explained.

Daily Trust columnist Bulama Bukarti mentioned that the attack on the Kebbi community was due to residents’ failure to pay tax. 

“The Kebbi government said it’s a retaliatory attack, but victims say they’re attacked because they refused to pay a new tax after they’d paid previously. The government claimed that 10 to 20 people were killed, but the two witnesses told the BBC that they’d seen >25 bodies & there are more,” Mr Bulama tweeted Monday morning. 

The police spokesman in Kebbi Nafiu Abubakar did not respond to calls and messages by Peoples Gazette to confirm the attack.

The attack on the Kebbi community came a week after armed bandits invaded Kurfa Danya, Kurfa Magaji Rafin Gero, Tungar Isa and Barayar Zaki in Bukkuyum and Anka local government areas of Zamfara, with border close to Kebbi. At least 218 people were killed in the raids. 

Despite military operations in neighbouring Niger, the attacks were authorised by President Muhammadu Buhari.  

Zamfara is among states worst hit by kidnappings and had been under a telecoms blockade since early September last year, which authorities said they imposed to disrupt coordination among the bandits and help the armed forces tackle them.