At least 20 people were killed after heavily armed assailants attacked several villages in Nigeria’s northwestern Zamfara State, local officials said on Wednesday, underscoring the persistent insecurity gripping parts of Africa’s most populous nation.
The attackers stormed communities in the Sauna district of Talata Mafara local government area between 3pm and 4pm local time, opening fire on residents, according to district representative Nasiru Lauwali, who spoke to AFP.
The latest bloodshed highlights the escalating violence across northwestern and central Nigeria, where criminal gangs, commonly referred to locally as bandits, have carried out deadly raids on rural communities, stealing livestock, burning homes and abducting residents for ransom despite ongoing military operations.
In a separate security operation late on Tuesday, Nigerian security forces killed at least three suspected bandits in Kwara State and rescued a kidnapped businessman, local media reported.
Kidnapping for ransom has become one of Nigeria’s most pressing security challenges, with armed groups increasingly targeting civilians, travelers and schoolchildren to extract payments from families, businesses and authorities.
Analysts say the practice has evolved into a lucrative criminal enterprise that continues to fuel instability across several regions.
The security crisis has been further aggravated by the long-running Islamist insurgency led by Boko Haram and its splinter factions in northeastern Nigeria, forcing security agencies to confront multiple threats simultaneously. According to research firm SBM Intelligence, kidnappers collected more than $1.6 million in ransom payments during 2024.
Earlier this month, Nigerian authorities rescued dozens of students and teachers who had been held for 56 days after being abducted from three schools in Oyo State.
President Bola Tinubu said eight suspected kidnappers were arrested during the operation, while an unspecified number were killed.
Defence Minister Christopher Musa said investigators believed the abductors had planned to use the hostages as leverage to pressure the government into releasing imprisoned members of their network.
