Police in northwest Nigeria’s Kebbi state instructed AFP Sunday that the demise toll from an assault by a gang of cattle thieves on seven villages Thursday had risen to 88.
The area has struggled with decades-long communal clashes over sources however extra lately some teams have change into extra violent, looting, killing and kidnapping for ransom.
“Initially 66 our bodies had been recovered however 22 extra have been discovered,” Kebbi state police spokesman Nafiu Abubakar said, adding that the search for more bodies was ongoing.
Dozens of assailants on motorcycles attacked seven neighbouring villages in Danko-Wasagu district on Thursday, Abubakar said.
The gunmen targeted the villages of Koro, Kimpi, Gaya, Dimi, Zutu, Rafin Gora and Iguenge, he said.
Many people were still unaccounted for Sunday after fleeing the attacks.
“The search is still going on and more bodies could be found. So, the toll is not conclusive yet,” mentioned Abubakar.
Policemen had been deployed to the world over the weekend to forestall additional assaults, he mentioned.
The assailants had been believed to have launched the assaults from neighbouring (*88*) or Niger states the place criminals are identified to keep camps.
In April, 9 policemen had been killed in the world in a shootout with gunmen who invaded a village in close by Sakaba district to steal livestock, Abubakar instructed AFP on the time.
Security forces stretched skinny
Northwest and central Nigeria are a hub of legal gangs identified regionally as bandits, who raid villages, harass residents and burn down houses.
The gangs keep camps in Rugu forest which straddles (*88*), Katsina, Kaduna and Niger states.
Nigeria’s safety forces, who’re additionally battling a greater than decade-long jihadist insurgency in the northeast of the nation, are being stretched skinny.
Gangs in the northwest have lately stepped up assaults on faculties, kidnapping a whole lot of college students to squeeze ransoms from authorities and fogeys.
More than 700 kids and college students have already been kidnapped by gunmen for ransom since December, usually from faculties in distant areas, the place pupils stay in dormitories with little safety safety.
State authorities in Niger state mentioned they had been negotiating with gunmen who seized 136 kids from an Islamic seminary final weekend.
The attackers launched 11 of the pupils who had been “too small and couldn’t stroll” very far, the authorities previously said.
Nearly 700,000 people have been internally displaced in northwest and north central Nigeria in February, according to the UN’s migration agency IOM, as a result of violence.
In Zamfara, Doctors without Borders (MSF) said it was struggling to respond to growing needs.
Between January and April, MSF said it treated 10,300 children in Zamfara for severe acute malnutrition, measles, malaria and other conditions.
“This is 54 percent higher than in the same period last year,” mentioned an MSF physician, Godwin Emudanohwo.
“People right here want meals, secure water and vaccinations now,” said Emudanohwo in a statement.
“What is happening here is a humanitarian emergency that needs urgent attention and a fast and proper response,” mentioned Froukje Pelsma, MSF head of mission in Nigeria.
Read all of the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News right here
