At least 24 farmers were killed and several others wounded when armed bandits attacked remote farming communities in Nigeria’s northwestern Zamfara state, residents said on Thursday.
The gunmen, travelling on motorcycles, stormed villages in the Sauna district of Talata Mafara local government area at around 1 p.m. GMT on Tuesday and opened fire on people working in nearby fields.
“They killed at least 24 innocent farmers. We are still counting the losses,” resident Auwal Sani said by telephone.
Another resident, Bello Aliyu, said the assault lasted for about three hours. He added that the attackers stole an unknown number of livestock and left several people injured, some of whom were receiving treatment.
Residents said the gunmen travelled nearly 50 kilometres along the Mayanchi-Anka highway, an important regional trade route, before reaching the Sauna area without encountering security forces.
Zamfara remains one of the areas hardest hit by insecurity in northwest Nigeria, where armed groups commonly referred to as bandits carry out village raids, abduct residents for ransom and steal livestock.
Police and military authorities had not immediately commented on the attack.