Jos – Jihadists killed at least 15 people in a series of attacks on villages in northwest Nigeria, locals told AFP Monday.
The attacks took places in the Shanga district of Kebbi state, targeting the villages of Gebe, Kawara, Kalkami and other settlements nearby, Kebbi state police spokesman Bashir Usman told AFP.
Although the police gave no death toll, locals in two villages reported at least 15 deaths between them.
Usman Yahaya, a resident of Kalkami forced to flee the attack, told AFP by telephone: “At midnight of yesterday (Sunday), some gunmen that are known as members of Mahmuda crossed over from… Niger State.
“They began shooting our people in Kalkami village, and setting houses on fire,” he said, adding: “They killed at least 10 people.”
Malam Dan Tani Muhammad, a resident of another village attacked, Kawara, said the jihadists had arrived there on Monday morning and killed five people, burning houses.
The jihadist Mahmuda group, active in northwest Nigeria, is affiliated with Mahmud al-Nigeri, a senior official in the Ansaru jihadist group.
Ansaru broke away from Boko Haram and has since allied itself with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI).
Kebbi state sits on Nigeria’s border with Benin and Niger and since 2025 has been the targeted by a rising number of attacks by jihadists.
Conflict monitor ACLED says there has been a surge of violence there carried out by groups affiliated to Al-Qaeda and to the Islamic State group.
Like other states in northern Nigeria, it has to contend both with jihadist attacks and criminal groups known locally as “bandits” who attack villages and take hostages for ransom.
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Source: AFP
