the start of the farming season, a local official and residents told AFP. Jihadists and "bandit" gangs specialising in kidnapping for ransom and cattle-rustling terrorise communities in northern and central Nigeria, where they launch deadly raids and impose levies on farmers wishing to access their own fields. Sources said the bandits on motorbikes, posing as visitors, opened fire on farmers while they were working on their fields in remote Goron Namaye village in Maradun district of Zamfara state, killing 17 and injuring five others. "I received a report of the killing of 17 people in Goron Namaye community this morning," Sanusi Dosara, the political administrator of Maradun district, said. Dosara described the repeated attacks on farmers across Zamfara State as "filthy operations aimed at disrupting 2026 farming activities." "We buried 17 people who were killed in the attack," said Abubakar Jarra, a community leader in the village, adding that five others were injured, three of them critically. "We call on authorities to deploy security personnel to provide protection for our farmers." (Bssnews)