At least 17 people have been killed after hundreds of armed bandits overran a rural community in north-west Nigeria during the Eid-el-Kabir holiday, in an attack that left villagers fleeing into forests and prevented families from burying their dead until well after nightfall.
The assault on Dangulbi, a community in Tureta Local Government Area of Sokoto State, began between 10 and 11 on Sunday morning when the gunmen — travelling on motorcycles and estimated by residents to number in the hundreds — entered the village and immediately opened fire. “They started shooting as soon as they arrived,” one resident said, speaking anonymously for security reasons. “People ran in different directions in search of safety.”
Among the 17 dead were seven visitors who had travelled to Dangulbi for the Sallah celebrations: five from Adarawa in Zamfara State and two from Gidan Gambo in Sokoto State’s Shagari Local Government Area — a detail that sharpened the grief of a community already reeling from insecurity.
Local sources said the attackers were believed to have crossed from Bagega village in neighbouring Zamfara State, passing through Barayar Zaki in Bukkuyum Local Government Area before spending the night in Gizazza village in preparation for the raid. Those killed included Munde, Nagoma, Abdullahi, Danbala, Munden Chana, Muhammadu Dan Amo, Hassan, Abubakar Danbaba and Yidi Bafillace.
The bandits did not leave after the initial onslaught. According to residents, they remained in Dangulbi until approximately 7pm, looting around 20 shops and rendering it impossible for villagers to retrieve or tend to the bodies of the dead. Funeral prayers were eventually conducted after 9:30pm. The prolonged occupation — nearly nine hours in total — underscored the impunity with which such groups now operate across Nigeria’s north-west.
As the attackers moved on, they passed through the nearby communities of Kukoki and Birnin Magaji, where several people were reported to have been abducted. The captives were said to have escaped later that night after a heavy rainstorm created confusion among their captors.
The aftermath has triggered a significant displacement of the local population. Residents of Dangulbi and surrounding villages have since fled to safer areas across Tureta, Shagari, Gummi and Bukkuyum, with many expressing little confidence that security forces can protect them if they return. Locals have renewed calls on the federal and state governments to deploy additional troops and improve the area’s notoriously poor road infrastructure, which they say routinely delays emergency responses and emboldens attackers.
The timing of the assault — on one of the most significant holidays in the Islamic calendar — amplified its psychological impact. That families travelling to reunite for celebrations could be caught in such violence speaks to how thoroughly insecurity has come to shape everyday life across Sokoto, Zamfara and their neighbouring states.
DSP Ahmed Rufai, spokesperson for the Sokoto State Police Command, confirmed awareness of the incident and said security operatives were working to restore order, without providing further detail.
The attack is the latest in a series of deadly raids on farming communities in the region, raising fresh alarm over the approaching rainy season — a period when agricultural activity intensifies and rural populations become more exposed and dispersed across open land.
