A woman and her child and over 30 persons lost their lives in Bawan Daji village of Anka local government area of Zamfara state, following an attack on the village by armed individuals.
According to members of the community, the bandits had earlier warned that no farming activities was going to take place in the village when the rainy season arrives.
Bandits attacked the village when some members of the community gathered for a meeting to proffer steps to be taken against this threat, it was gathered.
A community leader and the deputy Imam of the village, Liman Umar told journalists that the bandits had been disturbing people in the area and using their illegal weapons to input fears in the mind of members of the community.
He said “It was shortly after our local vigilante members held the meeting on Tuesday that the bandits finally struck and killed only men including those who tried to escape,”
According to him, the attackers are said to be hiding around the borders of the village, hence some of the corpses could not be brought back to the village for proper burial as members of the community were scared of going to get them.
He also said Danladi Shabalai, a member of the community who was caught communicating with the bandits was killed by security men.
The Emir of Anka, Attahiru Ahmad, regretted the attack, saying the security situation in the area is inadequate.
The chairman of Anka local government, Mustapha Gado confirmed the attack.