Gunmen attack farming community, killing at least 15 in northwest Nigeria in latest deadly assault

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Gunmen attacked a farming community in a part of northwestern Nigeria that has been no stranger to violence killing at least 15 people, an official said Saturday.

The assault took place Friday in the Talata Mafara area of conflict-battered Zamfara state. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack in the region, which has experienced recurring violence.

Abdullaziz Yari, a lawmaker representing the district at the national level, described the assault on the community as a “terrorist attack” in a statement on social media.

Yahaya Yari, no relation to Abdullaziz Yari, is the elected local government chairman overseeing the area. He appeared in a viral video during the victims’ funeral on Friday evening, where he made an emotional appeal to President Bola Tinubu and the junior defense minister, who hails from the area, to intervene and end the widespread killings.

Earlier this month, gunmen killed 17 farmers and wounded at least 13 others as they worked in their fields in Goron Namaye in another part of Zamfara state.

An insurgency in northern Nigeria has killed thousands of people and displaced millions over the years, according to the United Nations. Armed gangs who kidnap for ransom, tax farming communities and engage in illegal mining are active in the north-central and northwest parts of the country.

Despite repeated promises by the Tinubu administration to curb the crisis, it still persists.

Last year, Nigeria entered into a military cooperation agreement with the U.S. following a diplomatic row in which U.S. officials asserted that a “Christian genocide” was taking place in the country. Nigeria’s government rejected the accusation, and analysts said it simplifies a complicated situation in which people are often targeted regardless of their faith. Nigeria is largely divided between Christians in the south and Muslims in the north.