At least 25 residents drowned while attempting to escape a deadly six-hour bandit assault on communities in Sabon Birni Local Government Area of Sokoto State, as heavily armed attackers killed villagers, abducted dozens—mostly women and children—and forced thousands to flee their homes in one of the worst attacks to hit the area in recent months.
The coordinated attack, which began around p.m. and lasted until about 2 a.m., saw the gunmen move from house to house, setting homes ablaze, looting property and livestock, and hunting down residents who had taken refuge in nearby farms and bushes.
According to a Daily Trust report, residents said the attackers disclosed during telephone conversations with relatives that they had abducted 37 people, many of them women and children.
A resident who fled the community said the bandits answered the mobile phones of kidnapped victims and openly admitted carrying out the mass abduction.
“When we called our relatives, the bandits answered the phones and told us they were the ones who abducted them. They said they had taken 37 people,” he said.
He explained that many villagers had stopped sleeping in their homes because of repeated attacks and instead spent nights in surrounding farms, but the gunmen combed through the farmlands, rounded them up, and took them away.
“Most of those abducted were women and children. I personally saw three infants placed on the ground by the bandits while they led their mothers away,” he said.
Residents also accused security agencies of failing to respond despite receiving early warnings of the invasion.
“We informed them in good time, but nobody came to rescue us before the bandits completed their operation,” another resident lamented.
A local vigilante member said the attackers initially forced villagers to identify wealthy households and locations where livestock were kept before unleashing hours of terror.
He said efforts to mobilise security personnel proved unsuccessful because the operatives lacked adequate equipment to confront the attackers.
“When the gunfire intensified, we had no option but to hide,” he said, adding that security forces urgently require Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) to effectively combat bandits operating across the difficult terrain.
The assault also left homes in ruins after the bandits set fire to houses belonging to Lawwali Ta’u Mai Chaji and Hassan Hasken Halara, a vigilante member whose family members could not immediately be accounted for.
Residents said only a handful of people now remain in the community, with more than 100 vehicles transporting displaced families to safer locations since the attack.
“From yesterday until today, nobody has eaten because of the trauma and panic caused by the attack,” one resident said.
Those confirmed killed include Kabiru Mallam Tanimu, Ayuba Mallam Hashim and Yakubu Mu’azu, while several others remain missing.
The violence also emptied more than a dozen neighbouring communities, including Borai, Tsululu, Garin Tudu, Bukka Hamsin, Turkawa, Rumbukawa, Dutsin Na Umma, Zangon Mu’azu, Arawa, Kuru, Zangon Mallam, Mai Hurde, Zugun, Gidan Na Birni, Mashaya and Marina, as frightened residents fled in search of safety.
The displaced villagers appealed to the Federal Government and the Sokoto State Government to deploy more troops and armoured vehicles to enable security forces to reclaim the area from bandits.
Chairman of Sabon Birni Local Government Area, Ayuba Hashimu, confirmed the attack but said he was still verifying the casualty figures.
The Sokoto State Police Command also confirmed the assault, with its spokesman, DSP Ahmad Rufai, saying additional security personnel had been deployed to restore order and prevent further attacks.
The latest violence comes barely days after bandits attacked the Tsamaye community in the same local government area, killing eight residents, including three worshippers inside a mosque, underscoring the worsening security crisis across Sokoto’s eastern corridor.
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