Gunmen have killed 11 members of one family and abducted 13 people in a weekend attack on a village in Zamfara State, north-western Nigeria, police said on Monday. The victims included a local security volunteer and 10 of his relatives, in an attack that has renewed alarm over the violence gripping the region.
The attack happened on Saturday night, 7 November, in Gidan Taba village, Dosara Birnin Kaya Ward, in Maradun Local Government Area. Zamfara State police spokesperson Yazid Abubakar confirmed the incident on Monday 9 November, saying the gunmen targeted the family of a government-backed vigilante member who had repeatedly helped security forces resist criminal gangs in the community.
According to police, the attackers killed the volunteer — named in local reports as Malam Muhammadu Sani, also known as Sani Danwawo — before murdering 10 other members of his family, setting their house on fire and abducting 13 other residents. Reuters reported that the attackers burned the victims’ bodies and torched their home. Security forces have been deployed to the community to pursue the assailants and secure the release of those abducted.
Conflicting tolls
Police and Reuters report 11 killed and 13 abducted. Maradun council chairman Sanusi Dosara put the death toll at 12 family members, and AFP also reported 12 deaths but said seven residents were abducted. Another report citing police put the abducted figure at 14. This report uses the police figures of 11 killed and 13 abducted as the headline account, with the conflicts stated here.
Dosara said the victims died from intense heat and suffocation after the family locked themselves inside a room and the attackers set the building’s roof on fire. Police have not publicly identified all the victims, provided their ages, or released a list of those abducted, and no arrests have been announced.
A pattern of revenge attacks
The attack appears to have been directed at a household associated with local resistance to armed groups rather than a random assault on the village, according to police. Abubakar said the volunteer was targeted because he was seen as an obstacle to the gangs’ activities after repeatedly helping to fend off incursions into the community.
Zamfara is one of the states worst affected by armed gangs, known locally as bandits, who raid villages, kill residents, burn homes and kidnap people for ransom. Security forces are stretched between fighting Islamist militants and the gangs, leaving many communities dependent on government-backed vigilante groups — the same groups the gangs now target in revenge.
Sources: Reuters via 985 The River (9 Nov 2026); Daily News 24 / WeGoTalk (9 Nov 2026); The African Spectator (10 Nov 2026); Premium Times and AFP figures via WeGoTalk (9 Nov 2026).
