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Bandits unleashed a horrific ambush and related attack over the weekend, killing at least 40 members of local village self-defence groups in Plateau State, Nigeria. Both the Red Cross and residents confirmed this grim toll to AFP on Tuesday.
While Plateau state is no stranger to violence, often grappling with deadly clashes between farmers and herders over shrinking land and resources, local officials are pointing fingers at “bandits”—the term used for criminal gangs in Nigeria—for Sunday’s bloodshed. These heavily armed bandits have been escalating their brutal assaults in rural areas across northwest and central Nigeria for years, where the presence of the state is painfully thin. They’ve been responsible for killing thousands and terrorising communities with kidnappings for ransom.
Nuruddeen Hussain Magaji, the Plateau state Red Cross secretary, revealed that “hundreds of vigilantes were ambushed” on Sunday in the village of Kukawa, resulting in 30 deaths. This ambush occurred as these brave self-defence members were regrouping after earlier clashes in the nearby village of Bunyun Nyalum had already claimed the lives of 10 vigilantes, according to a resident.
Magaji shared that “preliminary reports from our personnel in the field said at least 30 dead bodies are now deposited in a local hospital,” with an unspecified number of wounded also receiving medical attention. He issued a stark warning that the death toll could tragically climb higher as “more dead bodies of the vigilantes will be recovered from the bush.”
Local officials and residents had confirmed the attacks overnight, though concrete casualty figures were initially elusive. Musa Ibrahim, a resident of Bunyun Nyalum, specifically stated that 10 vigilantes were killed in his village.
