At least 50 people were killed in multiple attacks by armed ‘bandits’ on villages in an area of northern Nigeria rife with cattle theft and kidnappings, local officials said Monday. The attacks were in retaliation for villagers allegedly assisting recent army operations against the so-called bandits in their forest hideouts, local counsellor Dayyabu Kerawa told AFP. “The bandits accused residents from the targeted villages of providing information about their hideouts to the military,” said Kerawa. The Birnin Gwari and Giwa districts of Kaduna state have been hit by violence and repeated reprisal attacks between bandits and local vigilante groups. Last month 21 people, including 16 members of one family, were killed when bandits attacked a village in a reprisal attack.

Source: The Guardian March 02, 2020 11:26 UTC