No fewer than 30 suspected armed bandits were killed in a fierce gun battle with local vigilantes in the Dansadau District of Maru Local Government Area, Zamfara State, on Thursday.
The clash, which occurred around 2pm on April 4, followed an ambush laid by a local security outfit known as Yansakai, who had received intelligence that the assailants were en route to launch an attack on a nearby village.
According to counter-terrorism expert, Zagazola Makama, who cited intelligence sources, the vigilantes intercepted the armed group at the outskirts of the community, triggering a violent exchange of gunfire.
“A fierce gun battle ensued, leading to the death of the suspected attackers,” Makama reported, adding that 16 motorcycles allegedly used by the bandits were also recovered by the vigilantes after the encounter.
In a related development, security personnel discovered the corpse of a missing member of the Community Protection Guard, identified as Ashiru Dawa, in the Gidan Kano area of the same district.
Dawa, who had earlier been abducted by the bandits, was reportedly found dead around 6am on Thursday. His remains were taken to a nearby hospital for autopsy before being released to his family for burial according to Islamic rites.
The development underscores the growing reliance on local vigilante groups by rural communities in Zamfara as the state continues to grapple with relentless attacks by armed criminal gangs.
Efforts to get comments from security agencies on the ambush and recovery were unsuccessful as of the time of filing this report. However, security experts say the use of local defence outfits has become a double-edged sword—providing immediate protection while risking potential human rights abuses and retaliatory attacks.
Zamfara has remained one of the epicentres of banditry in northern Nigeria, where communities are frequently raided, residents abducted, and farmlands destroyed.
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