Keystone-SDA
A Nigerian criminal gang killed at least 50 people on Tuesday in a series of attacks on a mosque and villages of the northern state in Katsina, according to information collected Wednesday by AFP. It is apparently reprisals.
(Keystone-ATS) For several years, criminal gangs, called “bandits” by the population and the authorities, have multiplied attacks in the North and Center of Nigeria, looting and burning villages and removing residents to obtain ransoms.
“Bandits” first attacked the faithful Tuesday praying early in the morning in a mosque in the locality of UNGUWAR MANTAU, in the Malumfashi region, according to a report of experts intended for the United Nations, consulted Tuesday by AFP. The document evokes “a reprisal operation” after clashes with the Nigerian army.
The balance sheet increases
The initial assessment, contained in the expert report, reported thirteen dead, but a state deputy, Amicini Ibrahim, said on Tuesday evening in the Katsina Assembly that the results were now thirty killed in the mosque. He added that the “bandits” also “burned twenty other people during the attack on several villages” neighboring.
A resident of UNUGUWAR MANTA, NURA MUSA, said on Wednesday of a 32 dead, still provisional. “Nine faithful were killed instantly and many others died,” he said. He added that the attack on Tuesday was an answer to a stretched ambush over the weekend by local militiamen against a gang of bandits.
Militiamen attacked at the mosque
Local self -defense groups have been set up to strengthen the Nigerian security apparatus, but they often find themselves overwhelmed or victims of reprisals from criminal gangs.
“The militiamen rise from the twilight at dawn, patrolling the village and its surroundings to repel the bandits,” he said. After having finished their watchtower, they went to the mosque “at dawn to pray with the other faithful”.
“As they prayed, the bandits launched an attack on the mosque. They opened fire on the faithful and fled, “he said. They then attacked other surrounding villages and kidnapped “several people,” he added.
“Peace” agreements
A series of “peace” agreements have recently been concluded in the State of Katsina, as in other states in northern Nigeria. They predict the stopping of the activity of the gangs against the commitment that they will not be attacked. But the Malumfashi region was not among local communities having recently concluded such trucers.
The crisis of banditry in Nigeria has its origin in ancient conflicts between breeders and farmers for the control of land and water, who have turned into organized crime.
The gangs, which can count hundreds of members, have theft of cattle, kidnappings and taxation of taxes to farmers a considerable source of income in poor rural areas, where the presence of the government has long been almost inexistent.
The “bandits” are also known to take advantage of the truces concluded with the communities to establish shelters in the areas covered by these agreements, while continuing to launch attacks elsewhere.
Security in the Birnin Gwari district, in the State of Kaduna (North), has improved after a truce in November, but the neighboring states of Katsina and Niger have, on the other hand, experienced an upsurge in attacks.
