The residents of Matusgi village, Talata Mafara Local Government Area, Zamfara State, are said to have killed at least 37 bandits after the bandits broke into their community to kidnap inhabitants as usual.
According to the report, the bandits arrived on motorcycles at approximately 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday to carry out kidnappings.
Although the villagers had previously faced bandits before, this was the first time they had been able to cause a substantial number of deaths to the criminals.
One resident stated that the bandits intimidated the population by shooting irregularly before starting their attack. But when the bandits came around, the locals were ready since they had received early notice.
Some of the locals used their homemade rifles to fight back, while others surrounded the location with standard weaponry to keep the bandits at bay.
Following sixty minutes of fierce combat, the bandits withdrew, claiming the lives of ten of their men. After that, the locals got together again, plotted, and prepared an ambush. The people staged a second onslaught when the bandits came again, killing 37 of them altogether.
Alhaji Ciroma Muhammad, the district head of Matusgi, verified the event and said that three people lost their lives in the fight. He mentioned that the bandits were reportedly seen riding motorbikes to carry the remains of their deceased companions in neighboring communities.
โThis is the 13th time bandits have attacked this village,โ Alhaji Muhammad said. โThree weeks ago, the bandits kidnapped 23 people, mostly women. They carried out the operation quietly, without firing any shots until after they had left. We only became aware of their departure when they fired a few shots in the distance.โ
He continued by saying that each victim had been offered a ransom of N150,000. Merely seven of the kidnapped ladies were set free upon payment; the other captives remained in detention.
Meanwhile, eight bandits in the Birnin Gwari Local Administration area have reportedly been neutralized by the military on patrol, according to the Kaduna State administration.
The bandits were encountered by the army when they were on a combat patrol in the Kampanin Doka region. The forces fought the robbers, instantly killing seven, according to Samuel Aruwan, the Overseeing Commissioner for the Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs.
During a follow-up search of the area, he said, the troops found several items, including six motorcycles, three cell phones, two Baofeng radio sets, three pairs of civilian clothes, eight AK-47 magazines (four empty and four loaded with a total of 120 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition), and one magazine carrier.
He continued by saying that during the last leg of the patrol, the soldiers came across other bandits in the Gayam region. They neutralized one of them, while the other criminals left the area bleeding from bullet wounds.
