Twelve members of a family were burnt to death when armed bandits set their home on fire during an attack on Gidan Taba village in Maradun Local Government Area of Zamfara State.
Daily Trust reported that despite efforts by the community to warn security officials, seven other persons were taken during the attack which occurred on Saturday nite in Dosara Birnin Kaya Ward.
This is coming barely one week after bandits assaulted security forces at Gidan Kano along Gusau-Sokoto highway within the same local government, killing five policemen.
A local who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity said the attackers raided the property of one Mallam Muhammadu Sani at about 10pm.
He said 13 members of the family were locked inside a room after shutting themselves in to evade abduction by the intruders.
Those in the room included Sani, his two wives and their six children, and his younger brother’s wife and their three children, he said.
He stated the robbers told the occupants to open the door, but when they refused, the assailants lit the chamber on fire.
Only the wife of Sani’s younger brother was said to have survived while the other 12 inmates died under tremendous heat and fire.
“The community immediately contacted the Maradun Local Government Chairman, Sanusi Ahmed Dosara who tried to get assistance from security formations,” the resident stated.
“But the security agencies could not take action before the tragedy happened,” he said.
“We told the chairman of the local government, Dosara and he did everything he could to reach the security men. “He told us that he had spoken with different security formations but nobody came to our rescue,” he claimed.
He said he was not happy that no security officers reacted to their distress calls despite the proximity of the area to Maradun town, which has military and police forces.
“Imagine, the distance from our village to Dosara is about half a kilometre and from Dosara to Maradun is about one kilometre. From our village to the seat of the local government is just approximately a kilometre and a half in all.
“We have a military base in Maradun, we have a mobile police base and we have a police headquarters, but none of them came to our rescue until the bandits burnt the 12 people alive,” he claimed.
Another neighbour said seven others were also abducted in the attack and were still in the custody of the bandits as at the time he spoke to our correspondent.
He called to the security services to beef up their presence in the area and take prompt steps to protect the inhabitants from additional attacks.
He also denied allegations of police reinforcement in the village, claiming that officers only came to get information about the incident and left.
“The police came to make enquiries, just like you are doing now as a journalist. They enquired what was happening, what happened and we told them. Then they all went away.
As I speak to you, there are no police personnel in our village,” he said.
The Chairman of Maradun Local Government, Sanusi Ahmed Dosara characterised the attack as heart shattering.
Dosara who delivered funeral prayers of the deceased in Gidan Taba yesterday said, “What happened in the village of Gidan Taba is heartbreaking and disheartening. A father, his wives and 12 little children all perished in the fire.
The victims died from extreme heat after their room was set on fire by attackers, he said.
“The bandits set the room on fire. “They were not burnt because the fire consumed the roofing but the horrible heat led to their death,” he claimed.
The chairman also revealed that some locals were seized by the invaders, but local vigilantes fought them in a gun battle and rescued some prisoners.
He added the real number of abducted victims was impossible to know in the beginning because of the animosity in the neighbourhood.
“The attackers resorted to diversionary tactics by firing at different places to confuse security personnel and to mask their real locations,” Dosara said.
The Zamfara State Police Command verified the attack but said 11 people were killed in the incident.
The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Yazid Abubakar, who spoke to our correspondent on telephone, said that the command received a complaint from the Divisional Police Officer in charge of the local government area.
The head of the household was reportedly an active member of the community’s vigilante group and had participated in efforts to safeguard the village against bandit attacks.
According to the report we got from the Divisional Police Officer in charge of the local government, “The incident happened and the bandits locked the people in the room.
“The head of the family is one of the strongest vigilantes preventing bandits from attacking the community,” Abubakar claimed.
“The police have sent a reinforcement team to ensure the safety of the community,” he stated.
Over 100 dead in six months
Gidan Taba attack is the latest in a series of violent attacks in Maradun LGA.
Last week, bandits attacked security officers near Gidan Kano on the Gusau-Sokoto route.
The personnel were aboard an 18 seater bus belonging to the Zamfara State Transport Authority providing security for the APC Zamfara North senatorial rerun primary. Five police policemen died in the ambush.
Separately, telecoms workers were ambushed near Tungan Tama, killing one and wounding others.
Dozens of people have been killed, many injured and residents displaced by bandits in Zamfara State. Travellers, farmers, traditional rulers and religious leaders have also been abducted in the previous six months.
Compiled from media accounts and humanitarian assessments between May 1 and November 7, 2026, the attacks affected communities in Gusau, the state capital, as well as Anka, Maru, Talata Mafara, Tsafe, Maradun, Gumi, Bungudu, Bakura, Bukkuyum and other sections of the state.
One of the incidences was in Lilo village, Gusau Local Government Area on May 1, where one resident was reportedly slain, another injured and nine people taken.
The police later said their tactical unit had slain a suspected bandit kingpin, Alhaji Lawali Dandumbulu and four other members of his group.
On May 7, a commercial vehicle reportedly struck an improvised explosive device (IED) along Bagega-Anka Road in Anka LGA, killing six passengers and injuring six others.
Three days later, on May 10, at least 10 people were slain when bandits assaulted a caravan of passengers being escorted by security officers on the Magami-Dansadau Road in Maru LGA.
The attack happened near Dogon Santsi and a number of people were also hurt, with several passengers apparently abducted.
Among those slain were security personnel and members of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF).
On the 14th of May, armed men allegedly tried to rustle cattle in Moda village, Anka LGA, killing one and injuring three others. Police stated their staff confronted the attackers and recovered the cattle.
On 18 May, another incident on the Jangebe-Talata Mafara Road involved the kidnapping of three local government officials, who were on their way to arrange for Hajj.
Among the victims were a councillor, a planning director and an assistant revenue officer.
The councillor and director were later executed after their abductors apparently refused ransom demands. It was not immediately clear what happened to the third victim.
In June 2026, some 50 elders from Magamin Diddi village in Magami/Faru ward reportedly went on a reconciliation trip to see a notorious bandit leader known as Jammo.
The elders wanted the fighting to stop and to be able to get to their farms before the rainy season farming activities.
But the peace proposal ended in a mass abduction when the bandit commander reportedly arrived at the meeting place with armed members of his group.
About 39 members of the group were taken on June 7, while 11 others were freed and told to go back to their community.
At least 17 farmers were killed and 13 injured in an attack on Goran Namaye hamlet in Maradun LGA five days later.
bandits killed three persons and injured two more in a raid on Gamo Gidan Bita in Gummi LGA on June 15.
An investigation by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) found that a total of 484 persons from 101 households, including 271 children, were displaced and fled to Ubandawaki.
A following IOM assessment on attacks on Gamo, Birnin Magaji, Falale and Birnin Tudu settlements in Gummi LGA, indicated that 8,796 persons from 1,677 households were displaced by 18 June. The review does not state how many people died in those situations.
Violence worsened in July when at least 24 farmers were killed and numerous more injured in an attack in Sauna region of Talata Mafara LGA on July 21.
Four days later, three security men and a civilian were reported murdered in an incident in Bungudu town.
Also abducted were Nura Abdullahi, chairman of Bungudu LGA and members of his family, five of his family members were later rescued.
An evaluation by IOM recorded attacks in August on numerous localities in Gummi LGA such as Galko, Baruda, Tudun Boshi, Gidan Illo, Gulle, Fass, Gusura and Yar Gusau.
The study recorded 14 deaths, 88 injuries and 14,727 persons displaced from 2,458 houses.
Gunmen stopped the Gusau-Funtua Highway around Unguwar Chida in Tsafe LGA on August 25, killing at least eight travellers and abducting eight more.
Reports said the attackers targeted at least two cars including a bus of Sokoto State Transport Authority. Security forces killed 17 alleged bandits later in an operation.
On September 12, at least six Islamic clerics were abducted along the Dakko-Damri feeder road in Bakura LGA, on their way to Talata Mafara.
Bandits have allegedly slain 14 soldiers and mobile police officers in an attack on a military camp in Bindin ward, Dansadau Emirate, Maru LGA. The incident occurred on October 5.
The assailants also attacked mining sites and robbed an armoury, it said. In later attacks more miners were reported murdered although their number was not verified.
Bandits attacked a caravan of traders on military escort along the Gwashi-Nasarawa market route in Bukkuyum LGA on October 10, killing at least 20 people and injuring 19 others.
The dead comprised four soldiers, three policemen, an official of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and 12 civilians. Buy Maps
On 31 October, security forces reportedly resisted another onslaught and the police later recovered the bodies of more than 30 suspected bandits.
Security officers on their way to provide security for the APC senatorial rerun primary were ambushed on November 2 along the Gidan Kano-Gidan Giye axis, around Maradun and Tsafe LGAs.
Five police officers lost their lives. Other media accounts put the number of casualties at eight people.
Bandits assault communities opposing attacks – Dr Adamu
Dr Kabiru Adamu, a security specialist, said the killing was a deliberate revenge on a vigilante who stood up to the bandits.
Last nite, speaking to our correspondent, Adamu, Chairman of Beacon Security Consulting, said the incident proved that armed groups were increasingly targeting people and towns who rejected their activities.
“What happened in Gidan Taba was a targeted revenge on a vigilante who stood up to the bandits and it ended up killing 12 members of his family,” he claimed.
He cautioned that such attacks were intended to discourage community resistance and to weaken local defence mechanisms.
We see that the gunmen are now punishing community resistance. When you kill a man for protecting his community you are teaching every other village not to resist. That’s how community defence falls apart,” he said.
The incident also revealed more sophisticated tactics by armed groups operating across the Northwest, especially in what he termed as the Katsina-Zamfara-Sokoto-Kebbi corridor, Adamu said.
Electioneering takes backseat to insecurity
“The political activities ahead of the 2027 general elections seem to be taking precedence over the worsening security situation,” the security analyst said. Follow Politics
Yet as this is unfolding, our politicians have continued to do politics, undeterred – defections, alliances and declarations for 2027 – as if in normal times. Neither are we.
“Security cannot be a campaign issue. You cannot try to lead a people whose safety you are not even putting first,” he said.
He said tackling the insecurity will need political resolve, more protection of the public and accountability from both the federal and state levels.
The route out is simple, but it takes political will. “We must improve the protection of the public and also make the protectors at the federal and state level accountable while improving their protection,” Adamu said.
He urged for a move from reacting to assaults after they occurred to a layered security policy based on intelligence-led prevention, persistent security presence in cleared neighbourhoods, interruption of illicit financing and regaining public trust.
“The killings at Gidan Taba was a tragedy that should prompt a fundamental change in the country’s response to insecurity,” Adamu said, adding that expressions of grief would not be enough.
“If we do not act decisively and differently, this pattern will repeat itself and it will be innocent families that pay the price,” he warned.
Security analyst, Dr Yahuza Getso has criticised the response of security forces to the massacre of 12 members of a family in Gidan Taba, Maradun Local Government Area of Zamfara State, seeking investigation into how the attackers worked and escaped without being challenged.
“We have a lot of unanswered questions we’re supposed to ask ourselves. What is the distance between Gidan Taba and the headquarters of the local government? Is there a road that the community can access? What response did the security authorities take if there was any distress call?’he asked.
Getso also called for probes into alleged support networks that maintain banditry, including informants that assist armed groups with food, lodging and other supplies.
“Who’s providing them with ammo, food, shelter and other necessities? “There is a collaboration between those who carry the guns and some members of the community who are informants,” he claimed.
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