At least 37 people were killed in two days of attacks by motorbike-riding gunmen on Dangulbi village in Sokoto State, residents and a UN security report said on Wednesday.

The raids began on Sunday, May 31, when attackers shot dead 17 people and looted shops, the security report prepared for the UN and obtained by AFP said.

Then on Tuesday, gunmen struck again, targeting mourners gathered for the first victims’ burials and killing at least 20 more people, according to local sources

“The victims were sheltered under sheds, following an earlier attack on the community on May 31,” the security report noted.

Local councillor Dalhatu Dangulbi, who lost his brother and uncle, described ruthless violence as the assailants fired on mourners.

“The bandits opened fire on mourners for the 17 people they killed in the Sunday attack,” he said.

The attackers returned late Tuesday for a third raid and set fire to much of the village, residents said, leaving many injured and homesteads destroyed.

Following the first attack, gunmen abducted several people from neighbouring villages and demanded petrol for their release, the report added.

A sudden rainstorm hours later allowed some captives to escape to safety, according to the security briefing.

Authorities suspect the bandits used camps in Bagega village in neighbouring Zamfara State as staging points.

Nearby resident Bube Abdullahi described the scale of the violence as unprecedented, saying five of those killed on Sunday had been visiting relatives for Eid.

The raiders also stole “hundreds of livestock” from local herders, compounding food and livelihood losses in the area.

Amnesty International said the killings “underscore the continuing failure of the authorities to protect communities from relentless attacks by gunmen,” and called for justice and urgent protection for rural populations.

Bandit gangs in northwest and central Nigeria commonly use motorcycles to raid villages, abduct residents for ransom, rustle cattle, and burn homes, driving repeated displacement and deepening poverty in farming communities.

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