Suspected bandits killed between 11 and 13 relatives of Mallam Muhammadu Sani in Gidan Taba village, Maradun Local Government Area, Zamfara State, during a Saturday night raid. The victims belonged to Sani’s household, and local leaders described the group as a family unit consisting of a man, his spouses, and their offspring. According to Premium Times, Maradun council chairman Sanusi Dosara stated that the attackers trapped the occupants in a single space before igniting the area. AllAfrica noted that Dosara attributed the deaths to the intense heat of the flames rather than direct burning.
Punch reported that residents told them the family locked themselves inside a room to avoid capture, but the gunmen opened the door and set the space alight when the occupants resisted. This Day offered a slightly different account, stating that the bandits gathered the entire household into one room before starting the fire. The 12 or 13 deceased were interred using Islamic funeral rites on Sunday morning, as noted by Punch. The exact number of casualties remains contested; while Dosara and Punch cited 12 deaths, Leadership reported 11, and Daily Post, via Premium Times, mentioned 13, including Sani Danwawo.
The state police spokesperson, DSP Yazid Abubakar, verified the incident to Leadership and This Day, explaining that officers were tracking the assailants. However, Premium Times observed that Abubakar had not yet shared specific casualty numbers with their reporters. During the raid, other villagers were taken captive. Dosara claimed that local vigilantes recovered some of these captives after a gunfight, though the total number of abductees remained unclear due to ongoing tension in the village, according to AllAfrica.
This incident followed a previous strike in the state. On 3 November, Reuters detailed an ambush near Gidan-Giye village in Tsafe Local Government Area where eight security staff died, including five police officers and three Zamfara Community Protection Guard members. Residents in Gidan Taba described the killings as harsh and urged state authorities to secure their properties and lives, according to Punch.