Adabka community in Bukkuyyum Local Government Area of Zamfara State was thrown into mourning on Saturday after armed bandits stormed the town, killing an estimated two dozen people and abducting several others — just hours after security forces reportedly pulled out of the area.
Survivors say the assailants, who also took women, children, and the elderly, allegedly carted away the bodies of some victims. The attack, they claim, was made possible by the sudden withdrawal of security personnel earlier in the day.
The tragedy sparked immediate outrage. Hundreds of angry residents poured into the streets, demanding urgent government intervention and the return of security forces to protect their community.
“They have killed our people, driven us away, violated our dignity, and oppressed us; we will not accept it,” one sobbing survivor told standarddailypress. “The Zamfara State Government should ensure that security personnel are returned. Those mobile police officers and those brought from Maiduguri should all be brought back.”
The bloodshed came less than 24 hours after a similar protest in Kaura Namoda LGA, where grieving women — clad in black — decried the killing of more than 100 villagers in Jimrawa. This is despite official assurances that bandit groups in the region had been “decimated.”
The back-to-back protests highlight what locals describe as a collapse in security and a government slow to respond, leaving rural communities exposed to relentless attacks.
Efforts to reach the Zamfara State Police Command spokesperson, ASP Yazid Abubakar, were unsuccessful as calls and messages went unanswered at press time.
