Armed bandits operating from Katsina on Monday launched renewed cross-border attacks into Kano, killing six people and injuring two others in Yankamaye ward in Tsanyawa LGA. The attackers equally rustled an unknown number of cattle.
The group invaded the community just as the residents were preparing to observe the Maghrib prayer. The attack caught many people on their way retiring to their home and caused a scare, raising concern about a resurgence of bandit violence after months relative calm. Locals told Dateline Nigeria that the attackers went round the community, shooting and killing people.
Most of the people that were killed were those found outside or trying to escape, a community leader who does not want to be named said. “They stormed a wedding party and gunned down the bride’s uncle who came for the wedding from Kaduna,” he said.
Another victim was killed while riding a motorcycle and robbed of his mobile phone and the kolanuts he had bought for his child’s naming, he added.
Five people were initially buried in the morning on Tuesday. But residents said one of the injured victims died at the hospital, bringing the number of people that were killed in the attack to six.
Dateline learnt that the bandits also rustled an unknown number livestock.
Describing the confusion that trailed the shooting, another community leader said he was at the market when he saw people running in his direction. “Many people did not return to their house yesterday. Some of them slept in the bush and others slept at the local government headquarters for safety,” he said.
But residents told Dateline that troops were deployed in trucks and on motorcycles on Monday evening following the killings, adding that more soldiers were seen moving into the area on Tuesday morning.
Yankamaye ward, located a few kilometres to the border with Katsina, has in 2025 recorded a series of raids by armed bandit groups, who kidnapped locals and rustled cattle. In separate attacks late last year, bandits stole hundreds of cattle and kidnapped many residents and asked their families to pay ransom.
Funding drawn from kidnapping and cattle rustling represents important revenue sources for the armed bandit groups operating in Nigeria’s North West. Reductions in these revenue sources have fueled the diffusion of attacks into new territories, spreading violence and instability.
Since 2025, residents across multiple border communities in Shanono, Tsanyawa and Gwarzo local governments have reported a noticeable increase in cases of kidnappings and cattle rustling by groups camping in Katsina.
In December 2025, bandits invaded Yankamaye, killing an old woman and kidnapping her son and three women. But the managed to escape as they were being led to group’s base in Katsina. The bandits later called families of the three women and asked them to pay ransom.
More than 70 percent of the members of Yankamaye Tsohuwar Gari relocated to safer areas in the wake of increasing attacks in late 2025, residents told Dateline.
Last week, the media reported an attack by suspected bandits on Mainika community in Gwarzo local government, where they rustled 300 cattle and killed a herder.
Monday’s killings have shattered a nearly 6-month lull in attacks on the community, raising concerns of a return to daily cross-border raids by the groups.
Community leaders have linked the spate of violence by armed groups to “peace agreements” that were reached between communities in Katsina and multiple armed bandit groups operating across many local governments in the state.
As a condition of the deal, bandits transiting through an area to attack a community that is not covered by the peace deal, will not be intercepted or be dispossessed of their loots. “Since the deals were agreed, bandits have faced no obstacle crossing the border to attack communities in Kano,” a vigilante leader told Dateline.
“The only assistance vigilantes in Katsina give to us, is to alert us about the movement of bandits towards our towns and villages. But they can’t challenge them because that will amount to violation of the peace terms,” he said.
