ello (@piers)

Update: "*They opened fire without a care in the world, shooting indiscriminately*," the 55-year-old quietly tells the BBC World Service. "It was one of many attacks that have caused havoc in the mainly muslim community where residents live in fear of being **kidnapped for ransom**. "Fatima explains how the raids unfold: "*You could have 100 motorcycles, and each one could be carrying three people*." "About 70 people, including children, were killed from the village of **Bia Buki** in June, according to Fatima. She describes how the attackers also targeted villagers as they fled and children were injured falling into ditches. Among the dead were her husband and six of his seven siblings. "Fatima is one of an estimated 800,000 Nigerians who the UN says have been displaced in the country's north-west. **One of the main reasons people have left their homes is violence**. "Some attacks have been carried out by militant Islamist groups, **but the majority in this region are by gangs**, locally referred to as bandits, who often move around on motorcycles and attack quickly then ride away, escaping before security forces arrive. "Thousands of people have joined **government-backed vigilante groups** to fight, and the BBC spoke to one who said his armed group had killed many bandits. **But the gangs keep attacking in what appears to be a deteriorating pattern of violence and abductions that is spreading southwards**. "[...] The bandits are mostly people from the Fulani ethnic group, who traditionally make their living by raising animals. **Some of them have swapped cattle trading for kidnapping and extortion, which is seen as a faster, easier way to make money**. "They attack towns and villages or ambush travellers, abducting people for ransom, **stealing whatever they want - and sometimes killing those who resist**. They also force communities to **pay protection money**, only allowing farmers into their fields if they hand over large sums of cash. "**Attacks are now more frequent than ever**. In the bandit heartlands of north-west Nigeria, the number of incidents recorded by the international conflict monitoring group Acled rose 78% in the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2025. "One security consultancy estimates that **kidnappers across Nigeria** collected nearly $5.8 **million** (£4.3m) in ransoms over the past year as the number of abductions surged. SBM Intelligence estimates that 7,825 people were kidnapped between July 2025 and June 2026, **a 66% increase** on the previous year. **The increase in bandit activity appears to be a key driver** in this trend. "Malik Samuel at Good Governance Africa, a research and advocacy non-profit group, says that **"there is no region in northern Nigeria currently that does not experience one form of mass abduction or the other"**. "Nigeria's battle with bandits is just one part of a more complex **security situation facing the country**. As well as the bandit gangs in the north-west, there is an Islamist insurgency in the north-east, separatist unrest in the south-east and clashes in central regions, where the main grievance is over access to land and water for grazing and farming and where ethnic and religious elements have also fuelled some of the unrest. "**Most analysts agree that armed groups have waged campaigns of violence that affect all communities, regardless of background or belief**. "Schools are a common target. When the Islamist Boko Haram militant group infamously kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls from the north-eastern village of Chibok in 2014, **it made global headlines**. At the time the group forced its captives into sexual slavery, domestic servitude or used them as suicide bombers. "**But a range of groups across Nigeria now use kidnapping to raise funds**, focusing on soft targets such as schools, churches, mosques and remote villages. This was mainly confined to the Boko Haram strongholds of the north-east or the bandit zones of the north-west - areas that are largely muslim. "Then, in May this year, gunmen on motorcycles attacked three schools in Oyo state, south-west #Nigeria, one of the few regions that was **previously considered relatively safe**. Thirty-nine children, the youngest just two years old, were abducted along with seven teachers. One teacher was killed during the raid, another's murder was filmed and shared online. "After 56 days, the remaining 44 hostages were released. The government said it refused to pay a ransom and that the children were released after an operation by security forces. Three men were sentenced to life in prison for the attacks and confessed to being members of an affiliate of Boko Haram [...]." Yemisi Adegoke, BBC https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2z0p3nmdro