Four persons are feared to have been killed in an attack on communities in Gebbe District of the Shanga Local Government Area of Kebbi State on Sunday by suspected bandits.

The attackers were said to have emerged from their hideout in the Wawa Forest in the Borgu Local Government Area of Niger State, which borders the affected communities in Shanga.

Some buildings were also set ablaze during the attack that affected the Kalkami, Tungar Bori, and Kawara communities, among others.

Available information confirmed that, in addition to Kalkami, the suspected bandits also burnt down Kawara village on Monday.

Across all the affected communities, an undisclosed number of deaths and casualties were recorded.

A resident of the area, who spoke to Channels Television on condition of anonymity, said that four people have so far lost their lives as a result of the attack.

The Vice Chairman of Shanga Local Government Area, Adamu Hamza Gebbe, confirmed the incident, noting that this was not the first time bandits had attacked the area.

Also condemning the incident in a phone conversation with our reporter, the District Head of Gebbe, Alhaji Haruna Usman, said residents of the affected communities had fled.

According to him, some people are currently taking refuge on Gungu Island, while others remain in the forests in search of safety.

Efforts to reach the spokesperson of the Kebbi State Police Command, Bashir Usman, proved abortive as he did not respond to calls as of the time of filing this report.

Shanga Local Government Area has continued to face persistent attacks by bandits, cattle rustlers, and kidnappers seeking ransom payments.

Kebbi is one of the North-Western states affected by bandits.

While Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorise the North-East, the Lakurawa group has been blamed for many of the attacks on communities in parts of Kebbi, Sokoto, Kadun, Zamfara, and Katsina states.

Its members stage raids from their forest base, rustling livestock and imposing “taxes” on locals.

The Nigerian government said the Christmas Day air strikes by the US military in Sokoto had targeted members of the group and “bandit” gangs.

Some researchers have linked the group to ISWAP, which is active mainly in neighbouring Niger and Mali, though others remain doubtful.

Nigeria is also grappling with other armed groups that have compounded its insecurity challenges in the north of the country.

Military crackdowns have yielded few results.

The jihadist conflict has spread to neighbouring Niger, Chad, and Cameroon, prompting the formation of a regional military coalition to fight these groups.

But the coalition has lost steam in recent years after the withdrawal of Niger due to a diplomatic spat with Nigeria following a 2023 military coup in Niger.

Earlier this month, the United States began deploying troops to Nigeria to provide technical and training support to the country’s soldiers in fighting the jihadist groups.

The US Africa Command said 200 troops were expected to join the deployment overall. (Channels)