Nine Farmers Killed, Several Kidnapped In Kaduna Bandit Attack

With the rainy season now weeks underway, jihadist fighters and criminal gangs locally referred to as “bandits” and known for cattle rustling and kidnapping victims for ransom have intensified assaults on farming communities across northern and central Nigeria that refuse to pay the levies demanded of them.

Kaduna is among several northern and central Nigerian states plagued by these gangs, who storm villages, kill and abduct residents for ransom, and ransack and torch homes.

According to a security report drawn up for the United Nations and reviewed by AFP on Sunday, the assailants moved into farmland just outside Kakangi village in the Birnin Gwari district on Saturday, opening fire on farmers who were tending their fields.

“Nine bodies have been recovered so far, with six of the victims identified by local authorities,” the report said.

Kabiru Ishaq, a community leader from Birnin Gwari who traveled roughly 60 kilometres (37 miles) to the village to pay his condolences, put the death toll at 10.

Related: One Dead, Nine Kidnapped As Bandits Strike Mosque And Farms In Kaduna

According to Ishaq, the assault was carried out in retaliation for the killing of a bandit by farmers during a botched robbery attempt earlier that same day, a motive the security report also cited.

The bandit’s accomplice “returned with reinforcements and launched a retaliatory assault,” the report said.

Despite a peace deal brokered in November 2024 between local authorities and bandits, violence against farming communities in the agriculture-dependent Birnin Gwari district has persisted.

Just last month, at least six farmers were killed and 20 others abducted during an attack on Danauta village, also in Birnin Gwari district, local sources reported.