NIGERIA: Gunmen kill 10 people during raid on two neighbouring villages in remote north-western state of Zamfara

Record ID: 235894

  • Title: NIGERIA: Gunmen kill 10 people during raid on two neighbouring villages in remote north-western state of Zamfara
  • Date: 7th January 2013
  • Summary: ZAMFARA, NIGERIA (JANUARY 6, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF BURNT HOUSES, BARNS AND GRAIN VARIOUS BODIES DRESSED FOR BURIAL CATTLE WAGON WITH BODIES HEADING TO THE FUNERAL GROUND (SOUNDBITE) (Hausa) BALA HASSAN, RESIDENT IN ZAMFARA, SAYING: "They trooped into the compound and opened fire. I was inside, I saw them, one of them came close to my door and looked in but it was dark so he beckoned to one of his people to bring his lantern, then he suddenly turned and told his colleagues that there was nobody in the room, that was how they left and we survived." COMPOUND FILLED WITH BURNT GRAIN WITH CHILDREN RUNNING AROUND VARIOUS DIGGING OF GRAVES
  • Embargoed: 22nd January 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Nigeria
  • Country: Nigeria
  • Topics: Crime,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA7IBMD60ITS6UXOCW1O6H5F733
  • Story Text: Gunmen shot or hacked to death about 10 people during a raid on two neighbouring villages in Nigeria's remote north-western state of Zamfara, police said on Sunday (January 6).
    The motive for the attack late on Saturday (January 5) on the villages of Makera and Usu was not known, police said.
    It was also unclear whether militant Islamist sect Boko Haram or a criminal gang were behind the attack in an area plagued by Islamist militancy and lawlessness.
    Bala Hassan, a resident in Zamfara said he and his family narrowly escaped death.
    "They trooped into the compound and opened fire, I was inside, I saw them, one of them came close to my door and looked in but it was dark so he he beckoned to one of his people to bring his lantern, then he suddenly turned and told his colleagues that there was nobody in the room, that was how they left and we survived," he said.
    Zamfara state police said the prime suspects were gangs of Fulani herdsman but that the incident was still being investigated.
    The Fulani's semi-nomadic, cattle-herding way of life has led to decades of conflict with farming communities across central and northern Nigeria which often erupts into violence.
    "As they started shooting and killing people, they came around my hut, I stood behind my door and aimed at them to shoot but my wife told me not to shoot at them because it would draw their attention to our hut. So I did not shoot because the sound of their guns proved that they were using more sophisticated guns than our dane guns because if they were using dane guns I would have shot at them," Zubairu Kawu, member of the vigilante group said.
    The victims were buried on Sunday (January 6) at a funeral ceremony according to muslim rites as family members and friends gathered to pay their last respects.
    The focus of Nigeria's Islamist insurgency has been north-eastern Borno state and surrounding areas, but a military crackdown this year has pushed it into several states further south and west, including Zamfara.
    Analysts say the insurgency has also brought a breakdown of law and order across the north, creating opportunities for armed gangs and ethnic militias with scores to settle.
    Islamist militancy and associated insecurity are the biggest threats to stability in Africa's main oil exporter.
    Boko Haram, which is loosely based on the Afghan Taliban, killed hundreds last year in a campaign to impose sharia, or Islamic law.
    Nigeria's more than 160 million people are split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims.
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