At least 50 people were killed and several women and children abducted in a brutal attack on a village in northwestern Nigeria’s Zamfara State, a state lawmaker told Reuters, highlighting the deepening security crisis in the region.
The assault began in the late afternoon of Thursday, February 19, 2026, when dozens of armed men on motorcycles – often described locally as “bandits” – arrived in Tungan Dutse village in the Bukkuyum South area and immediately began their rampage.
According to Hamisu A. Faru, a lawmaker representing the area, the attackers moved through the village from around 5 p.m. on Thursday until about 3:30 a.m. on Friday, burning homes and other buildings.
Residents who tried to flee were shot at, while others were reportedly seized and taken away by the gunmen, Faru told Reuters by phone on Friday.
“They have been moving from one village to another … leaving at least 50 people dead,” Faru said, underlining the scale of the violence and the fact that neighbouring areas have also been affected in recent months.
The exact number of abducted women and children remains unclear, with local traditional leaders and government officials still working to account for those missing following the overnight assault.
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One Tungan Dutse resident, Abdullahi Sani, 41, told reporters that he lost three family members in the attack and described a community left in shock and mourning. “No one slept yesterday; we are all in pain,” he said.
Villagers said they had seen more than 150 motorcycles carrying armed men in the area a day before the raid and alerted security forces and local authorities, but their warnings were reportedly not acted upon.
A Zamfara State Police spokesperson did not respond to calls for comment by the time reporters filed their accounts.
The attack is the latest in a series of violent raids across northwestern Nigeria, where criminal gangs frequently carry out mass killings, kidnappings for ransom, and village raids, displacing thousands and straining the capacity of security forces.
