Mamudawa Turns Kebbi Into a Kill Zone as New Terror War Spreads

Four people are confirmed dead, villages are burned out and residents are fleeing as fresh attacks in Kebbi and Sokoto expose a widening security collapse in the north-west.

Atlantic Post

April 7, 2026

4–5 minutes

Atlantic Post, Banditry, Isa LGA, Kebbi, Lakurawa, Mamudawa, National Security, Shanga, Sokoto

Four people are confirmed dead, villages are burned out and residents are fleeing as fresh attacks in Kebbi and Sokoto expose a widening security collapse in the north-west.

Kebbi State has been thrown back into panic after gunmen identified by police as a new terrorist group, Mamudawa, stormed communities in Shanga Local Government Area, killed at least four people and set homes ablaze in a violent two-day assault that has left residents running for their lives.

The attacks hit Gebbe District on Sunday and Monday and spread through Kalkami, Tungar Bori and Kawara, with witnesses saying the gunmen came in with speed, fire and fear. By the time the raids were over, parts of the affected communities had been burnt down and many families had already abandoned their homes.

Residents said the attackers moved from Wawa Forest in Borgu Local Government Area of Niger State, a thick and difficult terrain that has long been blamed for sheltering armed groups, bandits and kidnappers operating across the border belt.

One resident, Yisa Ahmed, said the attackers torched multiple buildings during the operation. Another account said Kawara village was completely razed on Monday as the gunmen intensified their assault.

What is happening in Shanga is no longer being described as an isolated outbreak of violence. It is now part of a dangerous pattern.

In recent months, the area has become a corridor of terror, with bandits, cattle rustlers and kidnappers repeatedly targeting villages, demanding ransom, and leaving behind destruction. For local people, daily life has turned into a gamble between survival and displacement.

The latest killings came only days after reports that 12 soldiers, including a mobile police officer, were killed in the same general area by Lakurawa terrorists, underscoring just how fragile the security situation has become in this part of Kebbi State.

A local source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the exact number of victims from the latest assault was still being pieced together, but confirmed that no fewer than four persons were killed.

The attack has also driven more families from their homes. The Vice Chairman of Shanga Local Government Area, Adamu Hamza Gebbe, confirmed the violence and said such attacks had become alarmingly recurrent.

The District Head of Gebbe, Alhaji Haruna Usman, said many residents fled in haste after the gunmen struck. According to him, some displaced persons escaped to Gungu, while others ran into nearby forests to hide from the attackers and avoid further bloodshed.

In a statement confirming the incident, the Kebbi State Police Command said the raids on Gebbe, Kawara, Kalkami and surrounding villages were carried out by the Mamudawa group.

Police spokesperson SP Bashir Usman said the gunmen exploited the geography of the area to their advantage. “They took advantage of the wetland terrain. Parts of these communities were set on fire, and lives were tragically lost,” he said.

The emergence of the name Mamudawa has now raised fresh questions about whether the north-west is facing a new terror brand, a splinter faction, or simply another label in an already shifting network of armed gangs using the same forests, routes and abandoned spaces to terrorise rural communities.

Security analysts have long warned that once armed groups gain access to forest cover and weakly policed borderlands, they can move from one local government to another with little resistance. That appears to be exactly what is unfolding across parts of Kebbi, Niger and Sokoto.

The situation became even more troubling on the Sokoto side of the border, where suspected bandits attacked Gazau village in Isa Local Government Area and abducted six people in an early morning raid.

A relative of the victims said the gunmen stormed the village around 1am on Monday, forcing their way into homes and seizing 13 people in total, including 12 women and one man, before making a chilling decision in the forest.

According to the source, the attackers stopped at Dan Adama forest and began separating victims by household. They later released seven and took six with them into captivity.

Those abducted were identified as Asabe Zakariya, Inno Ibrahim, Inno Musa, Umma Yusuf, Safina Abdullahi and Saminu Jijji.

The source also said the gunmen threatened to keep attacking the community daily unless residents sought amnesty from them, a sign that many fear the criminals are no longer content with ransom alone but are trying to impose their will on entire villages.

Attempts to reach the Chairman of Isa Local Government Area, Sharehu Abubakar Kamarawa, were unsuccessful as his phone lines were unreachable.

The Police Public Relations Officer of the Sokoto State Police Command, DSP Ahmad Rufai, also did not respond to calls and text messages as at the time of filing this report.

For communities in Kebbi and Sokoto, the message from these latest attacks is blunt and brutal. The killers are still moving. The forests are still open. The villages are still exposed. And the people are still paying the price.

Until the security architecture in the north-west becomes more than a reaction force, the attacks will keep coming, the names may keep changing, and more communities may be burned into silence.