Babaro and Dan Dutsinma factions battle for control in Pauwa Forest hideout
Two armed bandits have been killed in a violent confrontation between rival gangs operating in Pauwa Forest, a notorious criminal hideout straddling Kankara and Danmusa Local Government Areas of Katsina State.
The clash, which occurred around 6:00 p.m. on Monday, November 11, at Tsamiyar Gino in Kankara LGA, pitted the faction of the feared bandit leader Mustapha Babaro against that of Sanusi Dan Dutsinma, reliable sources confirmed.
According to field reports, the fierce gun battle left Bilyaminu Alhaji Monday and Umar Ibrahim, both members of Dan Dutsinma’s group, dead on the spot, while others reportedly fled with gunshot wounds into the thick forest.
Security sources revealed that the deadly fight was triggered by a dispute over territorial control and ransom-sharing from recent kidnapping operations in the area — a growing trend among the region’s fragmented bandit networks.
“The two factions have been at loggerheads for weeks over who controls key routes and camps in Pauwa Forest,” one security source told Zagazola Makama. “Yesterday’s clash was particularly bloody. It’s a sign of growing cracks within their ranks.”
The Pauwa Forest corridor, which links several local government areas, has long been identified as a major base for armed bandits and cattle rustlers terrorizing farming communities across Katsina’s central belt.
Authorities are said to be monitoring the situation closely, amid fears of reprisal attacks and renewed violence between the rival gangs.
Meanwhile, residents of nearby communities have called for intensified military operations in the forest, urging security agencies to capitalize on the internal rift to dislodge the criminal groups once and for all.
As one villager in Tsamiyar Gino lamented: “We hear gunshots almost every week. These people fight themselves today and attack innocent villagers tomorrow. We just want peace.”
Security analysts say the latest clash underscores the volatile and shifting nature of banditry in Nigeria’s North West — a conflict driven as much by greed and rivalry as by survival in the shrinking criminal underworld.
