The governor of Sokoto state in northwest Nigeria said Monday that heavily armed bandits murdered 15 citizens in two separate assaults near the Niger border.
Bandits, or criminal groups, have terrorised northwest and central Nigeria for years, attacking and plundering towns, but assaults have become more frequent in recent months.
Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal said dozens of gunmen came into Sokoto’s Illela and Goronyo communities late Sunday, killing 15 people.
“We lost 12 people in Illela… and three in Goronyo owing to banditry attacks that were carried out last night through this morning,” Tambuwal told legislators in parliament that he will be submitting the budget for the next year.
Nigerian forces have been launching ground and air offensives against bandit camps in Zamfara state, the epicentre of the conflict, since September.
Telecom services were shut down in Zamfara and portions of Kaduna to disrupt gang communication. Bandits escaping military operations in Zamfara have established camps along the Niger border, especially in Sokoto, from where they launch assaults on villages.
Last month, bandits opened fire on a market in Goronyo, killing 43 people. The incident occurred only days after 19 people were slain at a market in Sabon Birni town, where 17 Nigerian soldiers had been killed the month before.
According to UNICEF, gangs have increasingly resorted to mass school kidnappings for ransom, kidnapping 1,400 children this year.
Although the majority of the children were freed after negotiations, the UN agency cautioned in September that more than 200 children remain unaccounted for.
