Armed assailants fatally shot at least 17 farmers and wounded at least 13 others while they were working in agricultural fields in Nigeria’s northwestern region, according to local officials and residents.
The deadly assault took place Friday in Goron Namaye, located in Zamfara state’s Maradun area. While no organization has taken credit for the violence, attacks by criminal gangs have escalated in recent months across the region.
“The farmers were working on their lands when the bandits suddenly attacked and killed 17 of them,” Shehu Musa, a resident of Maradun, told The Associated Press on Saturday, adding that the wounded were being treated at a hospital.
According to Sanusi Dosara, chairman of the Maradun local government, the assault resulted from Zamfara state government’s unwillingness to enter negotiations with the armed groups. In a statement, Dosara urged government forces to eliminate the Bayan-Ruwa enclave in the Maradun forest, where the attackers have established their base.
The violence follows Thursday’s kidnapping of 39 individuals in Magamin Diddi, another Maradun community, where residents had gathered with relatives of a suspected criminal leader to discuss peace negotiations and address ongoing abductions.
The United Nations reports that an insurgency in Nigeria’s northeast, combined with kidnapping for ransom schemes, has resulted in thousands of deaths and displaced millions of people over recent years, despite repeated commitments by President Bola Tinubu to address the security crisis.
