President Muhammadu Buhari, centre, said the killing of civilians in Zamfara state was the work of mass murderers. Photo: AFP
President Muhammadu Buhari, centre, said the killing of civilians in Zamfara state was the work of mass murderers. Photo: AFP
President Muhammadu Buhari, centre, said the killing of civilians in Zamfara state was the work of mass murderers. Photo: AFP
President Muhammadu Buhari, centre, said the killing of civilians in Zamfara state was the work of mass murderers. Photo: AFP

Nigerian gangs kill 200 villagers in reprisal attack, say residents


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At least 200 villagers in north-western Nigeria have been killed in reprisal attacks by what the country's president called "bandits", following air strikes on their hideouts.

More than 300 armed criminals on motorbikes stormed eight villages in the Anka area of Zamfara state on Tuesday and started shooting.

Residents said they returned to hold mass burials on Saturday after Nigeria's military recaptured the villages. The state government said 58 people were killed during the attacks.

However, Ummaru Makeri, who lost his wife and three children, said 154 people were buried. Other residents said the total death toll was at least 200.

Nigeria's military said it carried out air strikes in the early hours of Monday on targets in Zamfar's Gusami forest and west Tsamre village, killing more than 100 gang members, including two of their leaders.

In a separate incident, 30 students who were abducted from their college in the north-western state of Kebbi were freed on Saturday, a spokesman for the state governor said.

There have been a series of attacks in north-west Nigeria, which has witnessed a sharp rise in mass abductions and other violent crimes since late 2020 as the government struggles to maintain law and order.

President Muhammadu Buhari said on Saturday that the military had acquired more equipment to track down and eliminate criminal gangs that have been subjecting people to a reign of terror, including through the imposition of illegal taxes on under-siege communities.

"The latest attacks on innocent people by the bandits are an act of desperation by mass murderers, now under relentless pressure from our military forces," Mr Buhari said.

He said the government would not relent in its military operations.

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Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

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Rodri (30')

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  • Stay hydrated: Drink plenty of fluids, especially water. Avoid alcohol and caffeine, which can increase dehydration.
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Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
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Updated: January 09, 2022, 11:37 AM`