From Abba Kabara
Despite security reinforcement in Zamfara with recent recruitment of 8500 civilian JTFs to fight banditry, about thirty persons were reportedly killed within three days in two local governments of Maradun and Tsafe.
It would be recalled that last Monday twenty-two persons were killed by the bandits
in Malikawa community under Gidan Goga district of Maradun local government.
Our reporter gathered that of the 22 livers lost to the bandits’ attack, six of them were burnt alive when they hid themselves in the bushy corn stalks to save their lives, but watchful of the move, the bandits were said to have set the corn stalks ablaze, roasting all the six victims alive.
Two days later the following Wednesday, a group of gunmen stroke Danjibga village under Tsafe local government and open fire on unsuspecting innocent community, killing seven persons on the spot, while another one died later in the Hospital from gunshot injuries.
Witnesses said the gunmen besieged the village at about 1.00pm on the fateful Wednesday and stated shooting at peasant farmers on who were on their way back home from farms.
He said one of the seven men killed on the spot was beheaded by the bandits and escaped with the victim,s head.
Another member of the community who prefers unanimity, narrates that within the last three weeks, “our village community has experienced the kidnap of about ten persons including a ward head of Matsomatso village”, he said.
He alleged that several days earlier, the community has appealed to relevant authorities to deploy a security unit to the area for surveillance and quick response, but nothing has so far been done.
“as result of failure to deploy military or police personnel unit, l we are now prone to bandits’ assault at any time of the day” he laments.
The police spokesman SP Shehu Muhammad has however denied the report that 22 persons were killed in the last Monday’s attack on some communities of Maradun local government, confirming that only twelve persons lost their lives to the attack.
