26 more die in Nigerian ‘war’

– Twenty-six people were killed in two days of violence blamed on cattle thieves in northern Nigeria, the National Emergency Management Agency (Nema) said yesterday.

Bandits on motorcycles attacked several villages on both sides of the border between Sokoto and Zamfara states on Monday and Tuesday, shooting residents, burning homes and stealing cows.

Nema spokesperson Suleiman Kadir said more than 1 000 people had been made homeless and travelled to Gandi.

Sokoto state police spokesperson Cordelia Nwawe said: “Three communities in Zamfara and two villages close to Rabah were completely burnt.”

Farming and herding communities in Zamfara have for years been terrorised by cattle thieves and kidnappers who raid villages, steal cows, abduct residents for ransom and burn homes.

The attacks have prompted villages to form local militia for protection, however they, too, are accused of carrying out extrajudicial killings of suspected bandits.

In April, troops were deployed to Zamfara to fight the gangs while the police outlawed the civilian militia.

Last week police recovered the bodies of 41 suspected bandits with their throats slit in a forest and nearby river in the Zurmi area of Zamfara.

Police arrested 15 militia members in connection with the killings. – AFP