Gunmen believed to be criminal bandits killed 17 farmers during a raid on a rural community in northwest Nigeria, deepening fears over escalating violence.
The attackers stormed Tungar Baure village in Zamfara state on motorcycles on Friday, opening fire before abducting an unspecified number of residents.
Yahaya Abubakar Yari, political administrator of Talata Mafara district, said 17 people were killed and confirmed he attended the victims’ funeral.
Yari said communities across the district have faced persistent attacks because security forces remain too limited to deter heavily armed criminal gangs.
The assault came during Nigeria’s rainy season, when farmers traditionally return to their fields despite growing threats from bandits and militant groups.
Armed gangs have increasingly targeted farming communities that refuse to pay illegal levies, disrupting agricultural activity across northern and central Nigeria.
The violence has driven many farmers from their land, raising concerns over food production and rural livelihoods in Africa’s most populous nation.
The International Monetary Fund has warned that continued attacks on farming communities could worsen poverty and deepen food insecurity across Nigeria.
The latest attack occurred in the home district of junior defence minister Bello Muhammad Matawalle, who previously pledged to deploy 2,000 troops against the gangs.
Video footage seen by AFP showed angry residents blocking a highway after the killings, demanding stronger security and immediate military protection.
The attack followed another deadly assault on June 12, when bandits killed 17 farmers and wounded five others while they worked in neighbouring Maradun district.
The repeated bloodshed paints a bleak picture of rural insecurity, where fertile fields have increasingly become front lines in Nigeria’s struggle against organised violence.