The police have confirmed the death of 29 persons, including a policeman in a fresh attack in Kajuru local government area of Kaduna state on Tuesday morning.
The police spoke hours after survivors of the attack told Premium Times that over 30 bodies were interred after violence that occurred in Maro Karami village.
The official figure was given by the Commissioner of Police in the state, Ahmad Abdur-Rahman, during a news briefing at his office.
The commissioner added that two policemen were injured in the attack while 40 houses were burnt.
“Today, in the early hours of the morning, my Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in Kajuru local government got information that unknown gunmen entered Karmai village in Kajuru and started shooting.
“We immediately sent a detachment of mobile policemen to the area. They were on entering Karmai and Maro villages also came under fire from the bandits,” he said.
According to him, the attackers went from hamlet to hamlet burning houses and killing people.
“I and the 1 Division Garrison Commander with the security components entered the village to assess the carnage that took place.
“We counted 40 houses burnt and a lot of people injured. At the time, we counted 27 persons dead, including a policeman. Later, we uncovered two more dead bodies, making it 29,” the police commissioner said.
Abdur-Rahman disclosed that the deployment of more security personnel to the area had brought the situation under control.
“This kind of animalistic carnage must stop. The law enforcement agencies will never tolerate this nonsense again.
“Enough is enough. We are drawing the battle-line with any person who does not like peace to prevail in this our society,” he said.
The police chief, however, said no arrest has been made, but assured that the perpetrators would be arrested and prosecuted.
Abdur-Rahman advised residents of the area to embrace peace and work towards building confidence and trust among themselves for lasting peace.
The latest crisis that broke out Tuesday morning follows a spate of attacks that took many lives barely two weeks ago.
Most houses in the entire Maro Karami village were burnt down by the perpetrators. The state government in a statement said the mayhem spread to neighbouring Kachia Local Government.
On Tuesday evening, News Agency of Nigeria reported that the state governor, Nasir El-Rufai, was in a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Residents of the attacked communities are already counting their losses.
