Bandits have attacked the Nasarawa area in Maru town, the headquarters of Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State.
The intruders invaded the area in the early hours of Friday, shooting intermittently to frighten inhabitants. They were claimed to have come in large numbers, heavily armed, at the LG.
Police authorities in the state are yet to confirm the latest attack.
However, a resident of the town who pleaded anonymity because of security reasons, told newsmen that the Troops of Operation Hadarin Daji responded swiftly to a distress call and engaged the terrorists in a heavy gun duel that lasted for over two hours.
Noting that there was no confirmation if any resident was abducted during the attack, he said three persons were killed, including an aged man identified as Mallam Isah.
“As of now, we don’t know if they kidnapped anybody but I can confirm to you that three persons have been shot dead,” the source said.
Earlier this year, a Divisional Police Officer in the Maru Local Government Area and two other police officers were killed while repelling a similar attack on the local government headquarters.
North-Western and central Nigerian states have for years been terrorised by gangs, known locally as bandits, who raid villages and kill and abduct residents for ransom in rural areas where state presence is weak.
The gangs, notorious for mass kidnappings from schools and colleges in recent years, maintain camps hidden in a vast forest straddling Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, and Niger states.
Security operatives have struggled to end the violence in the North-West and several peace deals and amnesties with the bandit militias have failed to work.
Although the bandits are motivated by financial gain with no ideological leaning, authorities, and security analysts are worried by the increasing ties with jihadists waging a 14-year armed insurgency in the country.