{"id":32771,"date":"2019-02-21T19:29:19","date_gmt":"2019-02-21T19:29:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=32771"},"modified":"2019-02-21T19:29:19","modified_gmt":"2019-02-21T19:29:19","slug":"dozens-killed-in-clashes-between-nigeria-villagers-and-bandits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=32771","title":{"rendered":"Dozens killed in clashes between Nigeria villagers and ‘bandits’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

At least 59 “bandits” were killed by a civilian defence force when they attacked a village in northwest Nigeria<\/a>, security officials and locals said.<\/p>\n

Local reports said the death toll could be even higher, after a local government official said 15 other bandits were killed in the nearby village of Danmarke, the AFP news agency reported on Thursday.<\/p>\n

“We killed 59 of the bandits and we lost seven men in the fight, which lasted for almost four hours,” Bube Shehu, a resident of Danjibga village in Zamfara state, said of the clashes on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Shehu’s account was backed by a military officer in the state but there was no immediate corroboration from police.<\/p>\n

The worsening security situation in the northwest, President Muhammadu Buhari<\/a>‘s strongest regional support base, is one of a number of challenges to his re-election, as voters go to the polls<\/a> on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Farming and herding communities in the region have suffered increasing attacks from criminal gangs who raid villages, steal cattle and kidnap for ransom.<\/p>\n

The local official in Danmarke said villagers were frustrated at the lack of protection from security forces and had been forced to take matters into their own hands.<\/p>\n

“It is high time people stand up against criminals who attack their villages instead of succumbing to them,” he said on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n

Danjibga is a commercial hub 35km south of the state capital Gusau and has been repeatedly attacked.<\/p>\n

Threat to security<\/h2>\n

The attacks have led to a mass exodus of residents to the town of Tsafe, and even across into Buhari’s home state of Katsina, which neighbours Zamfara.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Earlier this month bandits killed 26 people when they raided seven villages in the Mada district, according to police.<\/p>\n

Last July, Amnesty International said Zamfara state was “at the mercy” of armed bandits who had killed at least 371 people in the first six months of 2018.<\/p>\n

In December, an influential traditional chief in the state urged authorities to allow vigilantes to carry assault rifles to defend themselves against bandits.<\/p>\n

Last month, Information Minister Lai Mohammed said bandits were mobilised to carry out attacks and “provoke massive chaos before, during and after the elections”.<\/p>\n

Security is an election issue given Buhari’s pledge in 2015 to improve safety across the country, not least end Boko Haram<\/a>‘s armed campaign.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At least 59 “bandits” were killed by a civilian defence force when they attacked a village in northwest Nigeria, security officials and locals said. Local reports said the death toll could be even higher, after a local government official said 15 other bandits were killed in the nearby village of Danmarke, the AFP news agency…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":32772,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}