Inside Zamfara communities, where residents bear brunt of reprisal attacks by bandits

On 5 October, a terror kingpin, Dankarami Gwaska, and his fighters attacked a navy base and mining websites within the gold-rich Bindin ward of Dansadau Emirate within the Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State.

His fighters killed 14 troopers and cell law enforcement officials on the navy base and looted the armoury.

The following day, the terrorist despatched emissaries to Bindin, demanding monetary compensation from the group for the weapons he misplaced after his fighters have been killed within the space a number of days earlier than his gang attacked the navy base.

Residents confirmed that Mr Gwaska’s males have been killed in Bindin, however not by the navy. They have been reportedly killed by rival terror teams working within the axis.

Mr Gwaska’s forces later killed scores of miners in Bindin ward, all to avenge the killing of his fighters. He then imposed a ₦50 million “protection levy” on Bindin and neighbouring farming communities.

Residents mentioned the terrorist extorted about N360 million in safety levies from the communities inside two weeks of sacking the navy base.

According to residents and safety sources, the destruction of the city’s sole line of defence—the navy base—has pressured practically the whole inhabitants to flee.

These sources shared movies and pictures with our reporter exhibiting locals and miners departing in closely overloaded autos.

Who is Gwaska?

Mr Gwaska is a outstanding bandit in Zurmi Local Government Area. He attacked the palace of the late Emir of Zurmi and is infamous for village raids, cattle rustling, and kidnapping for ransom within the Zurmi axis.

According to native sources, Mr Gwaska relocated to the Dansadau Emirate lately, beneath stress from the navy and rival terror chief Bello Turji. He had additionally reportedly escaped assassination within the neighbouring Niger Republic.

In Dansadau, he reportedly struck safety offers with the native mining operators, after ousting smaller gangs from key websites, together with the foremost gold deposit in Bindin.

The offers compelled miners to share their revenues with the terrorist.

To keep operational stability, Mr Gwaska entered into separate peace offers with the native communities, together with Dan Kurmi, Bindin, Gobirawa Chali, and areas extending to Magami.

Residents and safety sources informed PREMIUM TIMES that the momentary peace attracted over 10,000 folks to Dansadau to work as labourers on the unlawful gold mines, and elevated native enterprise actions.

Under the safety association over the previous yr, labourers preserve a 3rd of the gold they extract, whereas the working entity takes the remaining two-thirds.

However, rigidity escalated after Mr Gwaska’s group reportedly raised its taxes on the labourers.

This led to clashes by which a number of of his fighters have been killed. While rival bandit factions have been suspected within the killings, Mr Gwaska blamed the labourers and the navy, prompting the 15 October retaliatory attacks on the navy base and mining grounds in Bindin.

The bother space

Bindin sits on the edge of the ungoverned Kwiambana forest linking Katsina, Kaduna, Kebbi and Niger states. It is one of the 5 wards of Dansadau Emirate. The different wards are Kwiambana, Dan-Gulbi, Dan-Kurmi and Dansadau city.

The Dansadau Emirate alone covers 492 of the 1180 sq. kilometres of Zamfara State territory, that’s, over one third of the state’s landmass.

The space’s land is appropriate for farming and livestock rearing, and is believed to have huge gold deposits.

Mr Gwaska and the opposite bandits function from the Kwiambana Game Reserve, which offers pure cowl from safety personnel and for transferring rustled cattle and kidnapped folks.

The authorities created the Kwiambana Game Reserve in Zamfara to protect wildlife. The forest stretches from the ‘Dajin Rugu’ to the Kontagora Forest.

The reserve has been slated as a potential UNESCO heritage web site. For now, it’s a infamous hideout for criminals.

More lethal attacks 

However, it’s not solely disagreement in peace offers that’s behind violence in these troubled areas.

Residents narrated to PREMIUM TIMES how one other terror kingpin, referred to as Rambo, moved to avenge his lieutenants killed by native vigilantes within the Yantasha group. The vigilantes additionally allegedly confiscated their firearms.

In a letter seen by this newspaper, Rambo detailed his grievances and ordered the group to return the confiscated rifles. But the vigilantes ignored the order, daring him to retrieve the weapons by power.

Recognising the group’s defensive capabilities, Rambo focused different weak areas, raiding communities similar to Yar Gada, Mai Kogo, Magama, and Mai Rake, inflicting heavy casualties and inflicting mass displacement.

Rambo vowed to dam the Magami–Dansadau freeway till he acquired ₦50 million in damages.

To implement this blockade, he planted improvised explosive gadgets (IEDs), forcing the street to be deserted for 3 days till the navy cleared the hazard on 9 October.

The success of the demining operation was confirmed in an announcement by Aliyu Danja, a military spokesperson for Operation Fasan Yamma—the counter-banditry power within the state.

“Troops of Sector 2 have recovered and neutralised explosive gadgets planted by terrorists to trigger main havoc to commuters alongside the Magami–Hannutara–Dansadau street in Maru Local Government Area.

“Acting on credible intelligence, the troops secured the affected area, conducted a thorough search, and identified two spots planted with explosive devices. An Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team was subsequently deployed to detonate one device controlledly and safely recover and render another harmless,” Mr Danja acknowledged.

However, a day after the navy cleared the street, Rambo’s males ambushed a civilian convoy travelling from Dansadau to Gusau beneath navy escort.

They killed a number of travellers and set their autos ablaze.

In an audio message obtained by PREMIUM TIMES, one of the terrorist leaders warned that the freeway ambush would proceed till the vigilantes returned the seized weapons.

“We burnt the vehicle because, while we were living peacefully with the people in the Magama and Yar Tashin Sahabi areas, vigilantes suddenly attacked, killed our people, and took our guns. This year, God willing, we are going to burn 250 vehicles unless you return those guns to us,” the bandit mentioned within the audio message.

Efforts to acquire feedback from the police spokesperson in Zamfara, Yazid Abubakar, have been unsuccessful on the time of submitting this report. Also, his colleague within the military, Mr Danja, couldn’t be reached to touch upon the developments.

Nuhu Babangida, a group chief in Dansadau and a member of the Leadway Peace Foundation for Human Rights Advocates (LPFHRA), and a few group leaders spoke concerning the attacks with PREMIUM TIMES.

Mr Babangida mentioned many our bodies have been but to be recovered on the Bindin mining web site, where he mentioned a number of miners have been trapped and shot by the bandits.

Mr Babangida attributed the persistent attacks within the space to the actions of native vigilantes, stating that residents finally bear the brunt of the fallout.

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According to Mr Babangida, the escalation of violence alongside the route is intently tied to vigilante teams attacking bandits working within the axis.

“The vigilantes ambush and kill the bandits even during periods of relative peace; they are fully aware that the local people—whom they claim to be protecting— end up at the receiving end of their actions,” Mr Babangida acknowledged.

Whenever such vigilante attacks happen, bandits retaliate with raids in opposition to harmless residents alongside the axis, he lamented.

Mr Babangida additionally highlighted a political dimension to the violence, noting that such attacks are likely to surge throughout election cycles.

“Some politicians exploit these conditions to trigger the cancellation of elections in areas where they’re unpopular.

“In their opponents’ strongholds, they deliberately stir up insecurity so that political activities cannot take place, ultimately tipping the playing field in their favour,” Mr Babangida mentioned.