Taraba bandits: eight Karim-Lamido communities under siege as 10 kidnap victims regain freedom

Residents of eight communities in Karim-Lamido Local Government Area of Taraba State say they are living under the control of armed bandits who have cut them off from their farms and markets.

The affected communities are Kommodoro, Telejugu, Paskari, Farin-Ruwa, Dinya, Jamaga, Macijin Kirya and Chibi, close to the borders with Plateau and Bauchi states.

Community leader Tanko Bobbo said the gunmen, who he believes operate from forests in neighbouring Plateau, regularly raid the villages, seize harvested crops, loot shops and abuse women. He said they had threatened to kill anyone who informs security agencies, so many attacks go unreported.

On Thursday, a farmer heading to his fields was reportedly shot near the Taraba–Plateau border, and another was attacked with a machete in a separate incident. Bobbo said 10 of 15 people recently kidnapped in the area had been freed, but did not say how, or whether a ransom was paid.

He said the state government had sent local hunters and security personnel to the border communities. The Taraba police spokesman, Victor Mshelizah, said the divisional police office had no record of the reported attacks and that officers were still trying to establish the facts.