Gunmen ambushed security operatives in Nigeria’s northwestern Zamfara State, killing at least eight people, Governor Dauda Lawal announced on Thursday, October 16, 2025.
According to the governor’s statement posted on Facebook, the attack occurred along the Gusau-Funtua highway in the Tsafe area of the state. The victims included five police officers and three members of a local paramilitary group assisting law enforcement in combating insecurity.
“No group immediately claimed responsibility for the killings,” the statement noted.
Rising Insecurity in Zamfara
The governor condemned the attack, describing it as a tragic reminder of the worsening insecurity in the region. “We pray to God to bring an end to this security problem in Zamfara state and Nigeria,” Lawal said.
Residents in Zamfara and neighboring states have repeatedly faced violence from armed gangs, commonly referred to as bandits, who stage deadly raids on communities, kidnap residents for ransom, and ambush security patrols.
In an interview with the Associated Press, local resident Buhari Moriki described how the attack unfolded. “The bandits were moving to a community in the area when they saw the patrol,” he said, adding that the assailants had hidden in the bushes along the road waiting for law enforcement officers.
Broader Context of Violence
Such attacks have become frequent in northern Nigeria, where long-standing disputes between herders and farmers over land and water resources have fueled tensions. Farmers often accuse herders—mostly of Fulani origin—of grazing livestock on farmlands and destroying crops, sparking cycles of retaliation.
Zamfara State, in particular, has seen a surge in kidnappings and armed assaults, with bandits targeting villages, highways, and even schools. Despite ongoing security operations, the violence has persisted, displacing thousands of residents and disrupting agricultural activity in the region.
Nigeria is simultaneously struggling to quell the Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast, where more than 35,000 civilians have been killed and over 2 million displaced, according to United Nations estimates.
The latest Zamfara ambush underscores the scale of Nigeria’s multifaceted security crisis, which continues to stretch the nation’s military and police resources thin across multiple conflict zones.
