Armed bandits have reportedly killed six persons and abducted many others during an attack in Rijiya village in Gusau local government area of Zamfara state.
A resident, Mustapha Ibrahim, told Premium Times on phone that the bandits stormed the community late Sunday afternoon.
“They started shooting sporadically when they entered the community. I think they normally shoot to confuse residents and make them run in confusion. They killed six people during the shooting. We counted six dead bodies,” he said.
According to him, the bandits also went from house to house, collecting food items and other things they needed.
He added that during the house to house search, the bandits also took several other people with them.
“We have not counted the number of those taken so far because others ran into the bush and most of them returned in the night. As of now (Monday morning), we have not started counting but they took many people, especially women and children,” Ibrahim said.He named some of those killed as Rufai, Sani Lawal, Murtala.
Another source, who spoke to BBC Hausa, also confirmed the attack.
He said those who died would be buried on Monday while those injured were in hospital.
Ibrahim added that the bandits who attacked the community came through the Tsafe axis.
Tsafe shares boundaries with Gusau, the state capital. Communities under Gusau, especially those sharing boundaries with Tsafe, have experienced severe attacks. Even areas inside Gusau that are closer to Tsafe local government, like Damba estate and Damba village, have been attacked on different occasions.
Zamfara police spokesperson, Mohammed Shehu, could not be reached for comments as his known phone number did not connect, perhaps because of the network disruption put in place by the government.
