Gusau
No fewer than 41 people were yesterday reportedly killed by yet to be identified gunmen at Birane village in Zurmi local government area of Zamfara state.
A resident of the area, identified as Bello Muhammad Zurmi in a telephone conversation, told Blueprint that, around 5:00 pm yesterday, the gunmen ambushed a Cantar truck conveying over 20 people and slaughtered the passengers and burnt them inside the truck.
He said, the bandits besieged Birane market and began shooting sporadically at innocent people who were busy doing their business, killing many people on the spot.
He said, already, the security operatives comprising mobile police and men of the Nigerian Army have been deployed to the area to protect lives and properties of the entire people of the area while the remains of those who lost their lives have been buried according to Islamic rites.
When contacted, the state police public relations officer, DSP Muhammad Shehu, confirmed the incident, saying it followed an earlier attack on the bandits by the local hunters of the area, who tried to stop them from their intention to attack the communities.
“When the community received message by the bandits that they will soon attack them, no one informed security agencies but unfortunately, the local hunters went to their hideout inside a nearby bush and confronted the bandits in which I can authoritatively confirm many local hunters dead and majority of those who survived sustained serious injuries as a result of the encounter,” Shehu said.
“The command is yet to ascertain the exact number of those who lost their lives as report available to police indicated that many people were feared dead and many injured,” he said, adding that already, the joint task operations of anti cattle rustling and armed banditry popularly known as operation bush combine team had been deployed to the area to ensure restoration of peace in the area.
