Bandits were said to have killed 17 people in attacks on three villages in Katsina State late Sunday night. Many people were also said to have been injured and others abducted. Sources told newsmen yesterday that four people were killed at Tsayau village in Jibia Local Government Area as well as 11 at Dantakuri village and two at Barza village in Danmusa Local Government Area.
Also at Zakka village in Safana Local Government Area, about six persons were reportedly kidnapped, property destroyed and many animals rustled. The attacks took place between 5pm and 12am, according to locals.
According to eyewitnesses, the locals are still counting their losses and taking stock of those kidnapped. Residents of Tsayau village reportedly mobilised and brought three corpses to the palace of Emir of Katsina, Abdulmumini Kabir Usman, to protest the killings. The emir was said to have been out of the state, but some palace officials pleaded with the protesters and the corpses were taken to a morgue. The victims were reportedly later buried in Katsina town yesterday after funeral prayers at Yan Lihida.
The chairman of Danmusa Local Government, Sanusi Dangi Abbas, confirmed that 11 persons were killed at Dantakuri village, one at Barza; while one was injured. “12 persons were killed in all during the attack,” he said. Some residents of Tsayau, who went to the palace of the emir, identified those killed as Buhari Musa, Surajo Lawal, Abdullahi Rabe and Kabiru Yahaya (a Nigerien)
“This is the third time they attacked us, it took the intervention of Nigerien army who came to our rescue, and they brought out the corpses and took one of their nationality, Kabiru Yahaya, with them” a source said. A resident of Barza (names withheld) said the bandit “killed our chief imam, Malam Atiku Abdullahi and shot one Kabir Mageresa and took away his motorcycle.”
The police had confirmed the attack on Tsayau village. The acting spokesman of the state police command, ASP Anas Gezawa, said: “The villagers mobilized and followed the bandits in to the forest ostensibly to recover the cows. The bandits killed four of the villagers and escaped in to the thick hilly mountainous forest.”
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