Image copyright AFP Image caption Vigilante groups and cattle rustlers have led to a number of clashes in Zamfara State

Gunmen have attacked a cinema in Nigeria's north-western Zamfara State, killing 11 people and injuring more than 20, witnesses and hospital sources told the BBC.

The suspected armed bandits opened fire at a village hall, where residents gather at night to watch films.

The cinema-goers panicked, many escaped with multiple gunshot wounds or broken bones, according to witnesses.

Amnesty International has warned about the escalating violence in the area.

It is not clear why the cinema was targeted, but villages in Zamfara State have come under heavy attack from armed bandits in recent months.

Witnesses say the attackers arrived in the village of Badarawa on foot on 12 September before heading to the hall, known as a viewing centre.

Hospital sources says some of the victims' injuries are life-threatening, while the dead have already been buried.

The police say security personnel have been deployed to track down the assailants.

Nearly 400 people have been killed in the state this year amid an increase in robbery, killings, and kidnappings for ransom, according to the rights group Amnesty. </s> 34 villagers have been killed by gunmen on motorcycles in the northern Zamfara state of African country Nigeria. This areas in the country are constantly facing criminal gangs who terrorize the remote villages.

The fatal incident occurred on Friday. The criminals’ gangs on motorcycles entered the Ungar Kafau and Gidan Wawa villages in Shinkafi district and shot dead 34 people. The bandits were said to have opened fire on farmers on their fields outside the villages and also pursued those who fled.

For the last many years the rural communities in the Zamfara state have for years been terrorised by criminal gangs. The criminals’ raid villages, steal cattle, kidnapping for ransom and burning homes after looting food supplies.

The bandits are known to hide in camps in Rugu forest which straddles Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna and Niger states from where they launch attacks on communities in the area. </s> Kano, Nigeria: At least 26 people were killed after cattle thieves raided several villages in Nigeria´s northern Sokoto state, police said Tuesday.



Armed bandits on motorcycles attacked Warwana, Tabkin Kwasa and Dutsi, a trio of neighbouring villages in Rabah district, late Sunday, shooting residents as they fled.

"Twenty six people were killed in the attack -- they included 24 males and two females," Sokoto state police commissioner Murtala Usman Mani told AFP.

"The criminals came on motorcycles and attacked three herding settlements, shooting people," said Mani, who attended the victims´ funerals on Monday.

Residents said the gunmen rode into the villages on two dozen motorcycles, three men on each.

"They attacked around 5:00 pm (1600 GMT) and began shooting people without warning," Warwana resident Kabiru Jabbi said.

The three villages border Zamfara state where kidnapping and cattle rustling gangs operate.

The gunmen were believed to have launched the attacks from Zamfara forests where the gangs are based, Mani said.

In July last year armed bandits killed more than 30 people and torched homes in raids on five villages bordering Sokoto and Zamfara states, two of them in Rabah district.

Farming and herding communities in Zamfara state have long been terrorised by such gangs who raid villages, stealing cattle, kidnapping residents for ransom and burning homes.

The incessant attacks prompted villages to form local vigilante groups as a protection force but they are themselves accused of extrajudicial killings of suspected bandits.

The killings by vigilantes attract reprisals by motorcycle-riding criminal gangs who carry out indiscriminate killings and burn villages in retaliation.

In April, the Nigerian central government deployed troops to Zamfara to combat the gangs while police outlawed the vigilantes to end the tit-for-tat killings.

It was not clear whether the latest attacks were connected with the face-off between the bandits and vigilante groups. </s> Kano - Gunmen have killed 34 people in Nigeria’s northern Zamfara state where criminal gangs have been terrorising remote villages, police said Sunday.

Armed bandits on motorcycles stormed into neighbouring Tungar Kafau and Gidan Wawa villages in Shinkafi district late Friday and shot dead 34 people, state police spokesman Mohammed Shehu said in a statement.

“Normalcy has been restored in Tungar Kafau and Gidan Wawa... following attack by armed bandits... where 34 people were killed,” Shehu said.

He said the victims of the attacks were buried on Saturday, adding police were on the trail of the killers.

The bandits were said to have opened fire on farmers on their fields outside the villages and also pursued those who fled.

“The bandits killed 35 people in the attacks,” said Lawwali Madattai, a resident.

Rural communities in Zamfara state have for years been terrorised by criminal gangs who raid villages, stealing cattle, kidnapping for ransom and burning homes after looting food supplies.

The bandits are known to hide in camps in Rugu forest which straddles Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna and Niger states from where they launch attacks on communities in the area.

Last week, at least 40 people were killed and dozens injured in raids in eight remote villages in Niger state. </s> Cattle thieves have killed 23 people in northern Nigeria's Zamfara state which has been battling cattle rustling and kidnapping in recent months, a local government official said late Saturday.

Armed bandits on motorcycles invaded Zanoka village in the state on Friday, opening fire on residents and burning homes, said Mustapha Muhammad, the chairman of the local government area.

"We buried 23 people killed in the attack, including vigilantes who tried to fight off the bandits", he said.

"They torched homes and burnt some of their victims alive before fleeing into the bush".

Muhammad said the gunmen had earlier on Friday invaded the remote village, carting away some cattle but were forced to flee by local vigilantes who fought them off and reclaimed the stolen herd. </s> KANO, Nigeria — Nigerian officials say armed bandits have killed 36 gold miners in northwest Zamfara state.

Survivor Isa Muhammad said many people are wounded and about 20 are missing. He said more than 50 gunmen invaded the informal mining site at Gidan Ardo Monday afternoon and seized people's belongings.

He said no security forces had arrived by Tuesday morning and residents fear another attack.

Police deputy superintendent Shehu Muhammad said soldiers and an anti-terrorism squad are on their way.

Zamfara state Gov. Abdulaziz Yari Abubakar promised to hunt down the perpetrators of the "act of terrorism."

Nigeria is suffering an Islamic uprising in the northeast, militants attacking oil installations in the south, deadly conflict between nomadic herders and farmers in the , cattle rustling, kidnappings and banditry. </s> Story highlights Armed robbery has been a long-running problem in Zamfara's gold mining communities

Lagos, Nigeria (CNN) Twenty six people, including 16 illegal gold miners, were killed after gunmen attacked several villages in northwest Nigerian state of Zamfara, state police said Friday.

Armed bandits stormed a mining site in a remote village late Wednesday shooting at residents, Mohammed Shehu, a spokesman for the Kaduna State police told CNN.

"They ambushed 16 illegal gold miners and shot at them. Four people who heard the gunshots and ran to the site to assist were killed. They attacked another village and killed six people," Shehu said.

Dozens of armed men stormed Kuru Kuru village Wednesday evening, demanding gold from miners before opening fire, one resident said.

"They came when the miners were coming from the forest in the evening and started shooting asking for gold. They shot at everyone in sight as they escaped," Amisu Ahiru told CNN.

Read More </s> At least 34 people were killed after suspected bandits attacked three villages in Shinkafi local government of Zamfara state on Friday. The affected villages are Gidan Wawo-Katuru, Tungar Kaho-Galadi and Kyalido-Katuru. A source told TheCable that the attackers, who came on motorcycles, set many houses on fire and shot …Read more via TheCable – http://bit.ly/2Kj4Fg7 Get More Nigeria Metro News </s> The police in Zamfara have confirmed that bandits attacked and killed six persons in the early hours of Wednesday in Badarawa village of Shinkafi Local Government area of Zamfara.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Superintendent Mohammed Shehu, confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria in Gusau on Thursday.

He said that the police received a distress call from the village at about 12.15am and quickly mobilized security to the area.

He said that a combined team of the police and soldiers on operation in the area, moved in immediately.

He, however, said that due to the bad terrain of the area, the bandits had fled before the arrival of the police.

“Unfortunately, I can confirm to you that six persons were killed while 10 others were injured and both the dead and the injured were taken to the hospital.”

The police image maker said that those killed were identified as members of the affected community.

At the moment, he said, the patrol team was combing the affected area to arrest the bandits and appealed to members of the community and its environs to inform the nearest security post of any suspicious movement.

NAN, however, reports that when the Speaker of the state’s House of Assembly, Alhaji Sanusi Rikiji, visited the village on a condolence visit, members of the community said 11 were killed and 24 were injured and hospitalized.
Bandits open fire at a village hall, where residents gather at night to watch films, in Zamfara State, Nigeria. Eleven people are killed and many more are injured.