Nigeria motorbike gang attack: Death toll rises to 200

9th January 2022

By BBC

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GETTY IMAGES Image caption, The criminal gangs are well organised and operate in several states in north-west and central Nigeria

At least 200 people in Nigeria's north-western Zamfara state have been buried after a wave of vicious attacks by gangs of gunmen over several days.

Survivors told the BBC that motorbike-riding gangsters attacked village after village, shooting indiscriminately.

The attacks are believed to be in response to military air strikes on Monday that forced some of the criminal gangs from their forest hideouts.

The groups have plagued Zamfara and neighbouring states for several years.

Known locally as bandits, these gangs are sophisticated networks of criminals who operate across large swathes of territory, often stealing animals, kidnapping for ransom and killing those who confront them.

This week, the government officially labelled bandits as terrorists, allowing security forces to impose tougher sanctions on the groups and their supporters.

On Friday it was initially reported that more than 100 people had been killed by suspected bandit militants in the region, after some 300 gunmen on motorbikes arrived in as many as nine communities between Tuesday and Thursday night.

Gunmen burnt homes and mutilated the bodies of their victims in the assault.

Villager Idi Musa told the AFP news agency that the attackers also stole around 2,000 cattle.

Local media reported that the armed groups behind the attacks appeared to be on the move - heading towards the western part of Zamfara state after abandoning hideouts in forested areas in response to sustained government attacks.

A spokesperson for Humanitarian Affairs Minister Sadiya Umar Farouq told AFP that more than 200 people had been buried.