The attacks were in reprisal for the recent killing of robbers in the area by the police.

A gang of 80 armed robbers on Monday June 11, 2012 killed 27 people, including a policeman in two remote villages in Nigeria’s northeastern Zamfara State, witnesses and police said. The BBC quoted an eye witness as saying the assailants who arrived on motorbikes with some carrying AK 47 automatic rifles, attacked the villages of Dan-Gulbi and Guru in Maru Local Government.

The first attack near Dan Sadau town lasted three hours on a busy Dan Gulbi market day while the second attack which took place at about 2:30 pm, left 18 people dead, while eight others were seriously injured. It was gathered that the gang, which then moved into nearby villages, went on to kill three people in Diya, one in Guru and another in Sabuwar Kasuwa, Thisday newspaper reported.

Villagers had been preparing for market when the killers struck, the Associated Press news agency reported. A police source said the armed robbers went from door to door, shooting villagers and in some cases, cutting their throats with knives. Talatu Mai Tasshi, a woman who escaped the violence was quoted by the Associated Press as saying she hid in empty sacks as the gunmen waylaid other people preparing to sell their goods.

The Nigerian Tribune newspaper said the commando style attack was in apparent reprisal for the recent killing of some robbers in the area. A month ago, the police in conjunction with other security outfits stormed the robbers’ hideout in the thick forest of Dansadau which led to the arrest of several of their members and the killing of others.

There was a similar attack in the villages of Lingyado and Tungar Baushe last year in which over 30 people were killed. A few months later, four policemen on escort duty lost their lives to another gang. The Commissioner of Police for Zamfara State, Usman Gwary, was said to have led a powerful detachment of mobile policemen and other security agents to the troubled area.