2022 Zamfara massacres

Last updated
2022 Zamfara massacres
LocationZamfara, Nigeria
Date4-6 January 2022
Targetcivilians
Attack type
massacre
Deaths200+
Injuredunknown

From 4 to 6 January 2022, over 200 people were killed by bandits in Zamfara State, Nigeria in a series of massacres. [1] This was the deadliest terrorist attack in recent Nigerian history. [2]

Contents

Background

The Nigerian bandit conflict, in which thousands of people have been killed, began in 2011 and is linked to the farmer-herder conflicts and the Boko Haram insurgency. Bandit gangs carry out attacks in several northwestern states, including mass kidnappings and massacres. Attacks in Zamfara State in 2021 include the kidnapping of 279 secondary schoolgirls in Jangebe in February and the massacre of over 50 villagers in Zurmi in June. [3]

Prior to the attacks, airstrikes by government forces on 3 January resulted in the deaths of over 100 bandits and the destruction of numerous bases. [4] This led to bandits being pushed forward into the region, where they carried out reprisal attacks. [5] A few days later the Nigerian government designated the bandits to be terrorists. [6]

Massacres

Shortly before the attacks, bandits led a raid on a group of 3,000 cattle only to be confronted by local vigilantes, leading to a gunfight and battle between the two parties. The outnumbered vigilantes lost and many of them were slain by bandits, and the killings of villagers began. [7] [8] [9]

Beginning around 12:45 PM, on Tuesday, 4 January, bandit gunmen on motorcycles whose numbers have been estimated as stretching from 300 to 500 [10] entered the town of Kurfar Danya, marking the start of a series of attacks on villages in the Anka and Bukkuyum local government areas of Zamfara. [11] [1] [12] Gangs shot villagers as they looted and burned their homes to the ground. [13] For two days, armed bandits laid siege to the towns of Kurfa and Rafin-Gero without an intervention by the government. [14] [12] Five different settlements were destroyed by bandits. [15] One survivor described bandits as shooting "anyone on sight." [16]

The massacres ended on Thursday, 6 January, after military forces intercepted bandits. [4] [12] A bandit leader named Bello Turji was accused of being responsible for the massacres. [17] [18] [19] [20]

List of settlements confirmed targeted
NameDate attackedDetailsReferences
Kurfar Danya4 JanuaryFirst to be targeted; population displaced [15] [8] [12]
Rafin Danya4 JanuaryDestroyed [20] [8]
Barayar Zaki4 January [8] [21]
Rafin Gero4 JanuaryBesieged, destroyed [8] [12] [22]
Waramu [17] [23]
Tungar IsaDestroyed [24] [22]
Kewaye [15] [22]
Tungar Na More [25] [26]

Victims

Zamfara State authorities placed the death toll at 58, but this was widely controversial. [27] [28] Some internally displaced people stated the number of people killed as 154. [16] A spokesperson for Sadiya Umar Farouq, the minister of humanitarian affairs, said that more than 200 bodies were buried, [1] a number also reported by local residents. [29] Among the victims of the killings was Gambo Abare, a prominent leader of anti-bandit vigilante groups. [17] [30]

Aftermath

Over ten thousand people became Internally displaced persons and five settlements were burned down. [15] [1] Many resources were stolen, with an estimated 2,000 cattle being taken by bandits. [31] [32] Nigerian authorities arrived to the districts to help organize mass burials, and are still active. [16] As of January 10, many people were still missing, [33] and relief efforts were ongoing. [34]

The Nigerian government and police have launched a manhunt for the perpetrators, employing military aircraft. [35] [36]

Attacks by bandits have not ceased, and on January 10, bandits stormed the Zamfaran village of Yar Kuka, abducting twelve people, including the village head, his wife and brother, and two miners from Burkina Faso. [37] The next day, bandits raided Kadauri in Maru LGA, kidnapping six women. [38] On January 11 bandits slaughtered 51 civilians from Plateau and Niger States in a similar incident. [39]

On January 12, Zamfara governor Bello Matawalle announced that lack of security had become "an existential threat" in the state and the North-West of Nigeria as a whole, and demanded that the federal government involve itself further in the conflict. [40] [41] [42] [43]

Reactions

Nigeria

On 8 January, Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari condemned the murders, adding that Nigeria would seek to crack down on terrorism in the country. [44] [16] Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation Anyim Pius Anyim said he was saddened by the killings, denouncing "the destruction of lives and property" by the perpetrators. [45]

The Emirs of Anka and Bukkuyum, Alhaji Attahir Ahmad and Alhaji Muhammad Usman respectively, promoted heavier security presence in the area. Bello Matawalle immediately took a visit to the towns affected, meeting and talking to survivors and their families. He criticized the media for purportedly exaggerating casualty estimates, saying the media "have variously quoted scary figures of deaths arising from the recent attacks by fleeing bandits." [46]

The All Progressives Congress condemned the incident, stating it would support the Nigerian Armed Forces in its quest to track down the perpetrators. John James Akpan Udo-Edehe extended "heartfelt condolences to the families that lost loved ones and commiserates with the government and people of Zamfara state" on behalf of the party. [47] [48]

The Nigeria Labour Congress denounced the massacres and the "wickedness and inhumanity" the bandits had caused. [49]

Femi Fani-Kayode, who previously served as Nigeria's Aviation ministry, proposed that Nigeria could prevent future massacres by adopting the practice of carpet bombing, noting that the military had recently acquired Tucano jets. [50] The governor of Kaduna State, Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai, also supported using the method. [51]

They kill people in Sokoto, you mobilise the army there, and chase them out, they move to Kebbi, from Kebbi if they are bombed, they move to Kaduna. What should be done is to bomb them from the air, ground, troops on the ground at the same time in all five, six states of the North West plus Niger. And this problem can be sorted out in my view, in weeks. I believe the levels of insecurity now are at a tipping point and something is got to give. My hope is that what will give is the end of this banditry once and for all. It is a problem. [52]

-Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai

António Guterres Logo of Twitter.svg
@antonioguterres

I strongly condemn the appalling attacks perpetrated over the weekend in Nigeria’s Zamfara State in which many civilians were killed.

I urge the Nigerian authorities to spare no effort in bringing those responsible for these heinous crimes to justice.

10 Jan 2022 [53]

International

Flag of Turkey.svg The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded it was "deeply saddened to receive the news that over one hundred civilians lost their lives during several attacks in the Zamfara State." [54] [55]

Flag of the United Nations.svg On 10 January, Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres expressed sharp condemnation of the incident, lending support to anti-terror operations in Nigeria, telling Nigerian authorities to "spare no effort in bringing those responsible for these heinous crimes to justice". [56] Guterres reaffirmed UN solidarity with the country. [57] [58] [59]

OIC Logo since 2011.svg The Organization of Islamic Cooperation denounced the incident, expressing empathy to the victims. [60]

Flag of Egypt.svg The Egyptian Foreign Ministry sent condolences and condemned the massacres as terrorist attacks. [61]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zamfara State</span> State of Nigeria

Zamfara is a state in northwestern Nigeria. The capital of Zamfara state is Gusau and its current governor is Dauda Lawal. Until 1996, the area was part of Sokoto State.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boko Haram</span> Central-West African jihadist terrorist organization

Boko Haram, officially known as Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād, is an Islamist jihadist organization based in northeastern Nigeria, which is also active in Chad, Niger, northern Cameroon, and Mali. In 2016, the group split, resulting in the emergence of a hostile faction known as the Islamic State's West Africa Province.

Ahmed Rufai Sani Yerima is a Nigerian politician who was Governor of Zamfara State from May 1999 to May 2007, and served as Senator for Zamfara West and Deputy Minority Leader in the Senate. He is a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boko Haram insurgency</span> Terrorism in Sub-Saharan Africa

The Boko Haram insurgency began in July 2009, when the militant Islamist and jihadist rebel group Boko Haram started an armed rebellion against the government of Nigeria. The conflict is taking place within the context of long-standing issues of religious violence between Nigeria's Muslim and Christian communities, and the insurgents' ultimate aim is to establish an Islamic state in the region.

Timeline of the Boko Haram insurgency is the chronology of the Boko Haram insurgency, an ongoing armed conflict between Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram and the Nigerian government. Boko Haram have carried out many attacks against the military, police and civilians since 2009, mostly in Nigeria. The low-intensity conflict is centred on Borno State. It peaked in the mid-2010s, when Boko Haram extended their insurgency into Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

The following lists events that happened during 2015 in Nigeria.

The 2015 Baga massacre was a series of mass killings carried out by the Boko Haram terrorist group in the north-eastern Nigerian town of Baga and its environs, in the state of Borno, between 3 January and 7 January 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kidnapping in Nigeria</span> National organized crime challenge

Kidnapping is a major problem in Nigeria in the early 21st century. Kidnapping by bandits and insurgents is among the biggest organised or gang crime in Nigeria and is a national security challenge.

The following is a list of events in 2020 in Nigeria.

The following is a list of events in 2021 in Nigeria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jihadist insurgency in Niger</span> Civil conflict in Niger

Since 2015, the border area between Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger has been a hotbed for jihadist forces originating from Mali. The insurgency has taken place in two distinct regions of Niger. In southwest, the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara and the Nusrat al-Islam have carried out attacks in the tri-border area with Burkina Faso and Mali. Meanwhile, in the southeast, the Islamic State in the West African Province has established control in parts of southern Niger.

The Zamfara kidnapping was the abduction of 279 female students aged between 10 and 17 during a raid by armed bandits on 26 February 2021. The kidnapping occurred at the Government Girls Science Secondary School, a boarding school in Jangebe, in Zamfara State, Nigeria. All hostages were released by the bandits on 2 March 2021, though claims vary as to the negotiation methods used by the Nigerian government in order to facilitate their release.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nigerian bandit conflict</span> Conflict between gangs and the Nigerian government

The bandit conflict in northwest Nigeria is an ongoing conflict between the country's federal government and various gangs and ethnic militias. Starting in 2011, the insecurity remaining from the conflict between the Fulani and Hausa ethnic groups quickly allowed other criminal and jihadist elements to form in the region.

Events in the year 2022 in Nigeria.

On 8 March 2022, bandit gangs carried out two mass shootings in Kebbi State, northwest Nigeria, killing over 80 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bello Turji</span> Nigerian bandit leader

Bello Turji Kachalla popularly known as Turji, is a notorious Nigerian terrorist and bandit leader operating in North-western Nigeria, particularly Zamfara, Sokoto and Niger states. In 2022, a bandit gang led by Turji carried out a series of massacres in Zamfara, resulting in the deaths of nearly 200 innocent people, including women and children.

Events in the year 2023 in Nigeria.

On March 20, 2022, at least 37 people were killed by bandits in the village of Ganar Kiyawa, in Bukkuyum, Zamfara State, Nigeria.

On May 26, 2020, over seventy-four people were killed on multiple attacks in villages in Sabon Birni LGA in Sokoto State, Nigeria. The attacks were a campaign of reprisal attacks targeting Garki, and came after the massacre of nineteen civilians by bandits in Sabon Birni a week prior.

References

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