Gunmen kill 19 villagers in Zamfara

Gunmen armed with machetes attacked a village in Zamfara State on Sunday morning.

Eyewitnesses said the assailants were going house to house, posing as visitors before shooting and slashing their victims to death.

The attack happened in Lingyado village in Zamfara State, a rural region of pasturelands approaching Nigeria’s border with Niger.

About 150 attackers were said to have surrounded the village, shooting residents who came out to greet them, elder Husaini Dansadau told The Associated Press.

Some villagers were said to have fled into nearby cornfields when the shooting began.

Some of the gunmen reportedly shouted that they would rape the women they found, said witness Ahmad Tsauri Lingyado

The attackers were said to be armed with Kalashnikov rifles and machetes in the attack.

They reportedly stole money and valuables from the their victims’ homes before fleeing into the darkness.

No fewer than19 people died in the attack, Zamfara State Police Public Relations Officer, Sunusi Amiru, said.

Amiru added that police had taken over the security of the village. A detachment of soldiers from a nearby base also entered the area on Sunday, where the occasional gunshot still could be heard.

It appeared the attack was a reprisal for another village attack in August, Amiru said.

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