The angry residents lynched the bandits who were negotiating peace talks at the Emir's palace.
Seven bandits were killed by residents of Birnin Magaji, Zamfara at the emirs palace on Wednesday, May 1, 2019.
The bandits had been at the emir's palace to negotiate the release of cows confiscated by authorities in the Birnin Magaji forest when the mob lynched them, according to a report by Premium Times.
Around 200 rustled cows had been recovered from the forest earlier in April after airstrikes by the Nigerian Air Force that displaced the bandits. The cows were kept at the emir's palace until last week when they were moved to Gusau, the state capital.
The bandits had reportedly visited the emir's palace in the company of an official of the Department of State Services (DSS) on Wednesday to plead for the release of the cows. They were hosted by Muhammadu Mai-inji, the secretary to the Emir of Birnin Magaji, Husseini Dan-Ali, who was away in Kaduna.
When residents caught wind of the meeting, they gathered at the palace and initially tried to set it on fire but were prevailed upon by soldiers guarding it.
They then waited for the bandits to exit the building before setting on them and lynching them while the SSS official escaped with severe injuries.
5 missing after bandits attack girls school in Zamfara
Bandits attacked Government Girls Secondary School, Moriki in Zurmi local government area of Zamfara and kidnapped five people on Wednesday.
The Zamfara State Police Command revealed that the attack was carried out by an unidentified number of armed men who entered through the back fence of the school with intent to abduct students late on Wednesday.
The bandits were confronted and stopped from gaining access to the students' hostels by a combined team of PMF/CTU and Civilian Joint Task Force personnel.
The spokesperson of the command, SP Mohammed Shehu, disclosed that no students were kidnapped by the gunmen who took a retreat into the bush but that two caterers and their children were later discovered to be missing.
"The police is collaborating with the school authority to establish the whereabout of the missing persons. To this end, a search and rescue operation team has been dispatched to the surrounding bushes for an extensive bush combing.
"Meanwhile, security has been beefed up in the school and its environment to forestall further happening," SP Shehu said.
Zamfara has been terribly-hit with a wave of kidnappings and killings by bandits, making it the face of insecurity in the country over the past few months.
According to the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, of the 685 people kidnapped across the country in the first quarter of 2019, Zamfara recorded the highest national kidnap rate with 281 victims.