Zamfara: Bandits kill 50, sack 20 communities
Armed men terrorising Zamfara State killed 50 people on Friday and Saturday in two villages –Kunkilai and Dangurgu – in Gusau and Maru local government areas.
The bandits, about 100 in number, surrounded Kunkilai village in Magami District in Gusau Local Government Area on Friday about 10:30a.m. The gunmen killed 20 villagers, injured many and burnt houses, shops and food storage.
Before the attack on Kunkilai village on Friday, the bandits had sacked no fewer than 20 communities in the area.
The following day, the gunmen went to Dangurgu village in Dansadau Emirate and killed 30 people. The attack forced residents to flee Dangurgu and take refuge in Dansadau town.
A resident of Dangurgu, Malam Abdullahi, who narrowly escaped the attack, said the bandits, about 70 in number, all on motorcycles, invaded the village about 12:30p.m. on Saturday and started shooting sporadically.
He said: “We were surprised with the attack. Government always claims to have deployed more soldiers and the Mobile policemen to the state to fight the criminals, but since they brought those security men, none has reached our areas; the villages under Dansadau Emirate.
“Many of us, particularly men were killed; our houses and food storage were set ablaze. Some of our people were abducted by the bandits. Now the rest of us were forced to flee to Dansadau town.”
According to him, since the launch of ‘Operation Harbin Kunama,’ by the Nigerian Army and the subsequent launch of ‘Operation Puff Adder,’ by the Inspector-General of Police (IG), Mohammed Adamu in Zamfara, to fight the menace, no presence of security personnel in villages of Dansadau Emirate Council Area.
He added: “We were being killed, maimed and devastated by the bandits daily. This continues with no presence of security agents to protect us.”
The Emir of Dansadau, Alhaji Hussaini Umar, yesterday spoke on the attack on Dangurgu village.
He confirmed the killing of 30 people.
According to him, the injured were taken to the Federal Medical Hospital (FMH), Gusau, and Yariman Bakura Hospital.
Umar, who spoke on BBC Hausa Service, added that the villagers fled from their village and even those of the neighbouring villages converged on Dansadau under my Emirate.
The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Mohammed Shehu, confirmed the attack at Dangurgu village. Shehu, however, said only 10 people were killed during the attack by the bandits.
He said a team of Mobile policemen and the civilian JTF personnel had been mobilised under the DPO of Dansadau to confront the bandits terrorising the people in the areas.
