More than 30 people have been killed after suspected gunmen stormed Naridon village in the Kamaru Ward of Kauru Local Government Area of Kaduna State. The Naridon village attack happened late on Sunday night, according to residents who spoke to reporters on Monday.
PUNCH reported that the attackers arrived at around 11pm and opened fire on residents before setting homes and shops ablaze. Eight children were among the dead, and four other people sustained injuries, PUNCH quoted the Secretary to the Village Head of Naridon, Dogon Rana, as saying.
Some accounts place the assault a little later in the night. Leadership reported that residents began receiving distress calls between midnight and 1am on Monday, and that the shooting continued for more than three hours. A resident named Barnabas Musa told the outlet that terrified villagers had made frantic calls for help throughout the ordeal.
Youth leader Ishaya Dawa, cited in a Reuters dispatch carried by the Kathmandu Post, said the gunmen struck close to midnight and opened fire without warning. Dawa said the victims were mostly women, children and elderly residents, and that several bodies had already been taken to a mortuary by Monday.
The Naridon village attack has been described as one of the deadliest to hit Southern Kaduna in recent months. No group has claimed responsibility, and security agencies had not named any suspects by the time of filing.
Security personnel reportedly reached the community only in the morning, hours after the gunmen had fled the scene of the Naridon village attack. Rana blamed the delay on the absence of a motorable road linking Naridon to nearby towns, telling PUNCH that a better road could have allowed residents to escape or receive help sooner.
Naridon shares a boundary with Plateau State, and Rana appealed to the federal and state governments to deploy more security personnel and construct an access road for the community.
Daily Post reported that police authorities remained silent on the Naridon village attack for hours, even as relatives and residents described their ordeal to journalists. A community source told the outlet that many people were still missing after fleeing into the bush.
Governor Uba Sani condemned the killings in a statement issued through the Commissioner for Information, Ahmed Maiyaki, calling the Naridon village attack unacceptable and describing the loss of lives and property as a tragedy. The governor directed the Kaduna State Emergency Management Agency to provide relief to affected families and ordered security agencies to intensify operations against those responsible.
The Southern Kaduna Peoples’ Union, in an open letter to the Kaduna State Police Commissioner, described the attack as part of a worsening pattern of violence across Kauru, Kajuru, Chikun and Zangon Kataf local government areas. Vanguard reported that the group’s president, Tabara Samuel Kato, called for intelligence driven operations and the deployment of additional Mobile Police to vulnerable communities.
The Christians in Politics group also condemned the Naridon village attack, urging President Bola Tinubu and Governor Sani to ensure justice for the victims. Daily Post quoted the group’s National Coordinator, Shallangwa Hassana, as saying the killings amounted to a deliberate act of terror against a peaceful farming community.
The Naridon village attack adds to a long list of assaults on communities in Southern Kaduna, where farmers have repeatedly faced raids blamed on armed groups operating from forested areas along the Kaduna Plateau border. Residents have long complained that a shortage of security personnel and poor road access leave villages exposed to repeated attacks.
Search and rescue efforts were continuing on Monday, with fears that the death toll could still rise as more victims are accounted for.
