The bandits reportedly set several houses ablaze, burning victims alive.
At least four residents of Gwargwaba village in the Nahuce District of Bungudu Local Government Area, Zamfara State, were killed on Thursday evening after terrorists suspected to be bandits attacked the community.
The bandits reportedly set several houses ablaze, burning victims alive.
SaharaReporters gathered that the attack occurred around 6pm when heavily armed attackers stormed the village.
Confirming the incident on Saturday, a security alert platform, Bakatsine, disclosed that four villagers were burned to death inside their homes during the raid.
The attackers also set several houses, food storage facilities and livestock on fire, leaving widespread destruction in their wake.
According to the report, the assault followed the community’s refusal to comply with illegal levies imposed by the armed group, a practice that has become common in many rural communities across Zamfara and other parts of northwestern Nigeria.
Bakatsine, while condemning the incident, raised concerns over the growing pattern of violence linked to extortion by bandits, asking how long rural communities would continue to suffer deadly attacks simply for rejecting unlawful taxes enforced at gunpoint.
Zamfara State has remained one of the epicentres of banditry in Nigeria, with repeated attacks on villages, mass kidnappings, killings and destruction of property, despite ongoing military operations in the region.