Bandits on Thursday night attacked some communities in Alkaleri Local Government Area of Bauchi State, killing four persons and leaving three others severely injured.
Reports gathered that the bandits attacked Tudun Wadan Jada, old Jamari, Sabuwa Garin Jauro Bano communities.
It was gathered that the gunmen were in the communities to abduct someone, who raised the alarm upon their arrival.
The alarm he raised, it was further gathered, attracted the people of the area, particularly the youth who mobilised themselves with a view to preventing the abduction.
“As a result of the large number of people mobilised, the bandits opened fire on them and in the process killed four people on the spot and injured three others.
“They were unable to abduct any one,” a resident told journalists on the telephone.
Another resident of the area, Muhammad Usman, informed newsmen that the attackers arrived in the community around 11:45 p.m.
“They came on motorcycles and when people raised the alarm, they started shooting sporadically and fled to the bush after they killed four people,” he said.
The source added that those injured in the attack were taken to a hospital in Gombe for treatment.
Other sources confirmed that police, army and other security agencies visited the communities attacked and assured residents of their protection as well as those of their property.
Confirming the attack to journalists in Bauchi on Friday, the chairman, Alkaleri LGA, Yusuf Garba, said four persons were killed by the bandits.
According to Garba, the bandits went to the communities to abduct the village head of Jimari Sabuwa, New Tudun Wadan Jada Jauro Banu, adding that they did not succeed in the mission as people raised the alarm, which made them (bandits) to flee from the community.
The chairman noted that the bandits came to the affected communities through the largest border forest that traversed among Bauchi, Taraba, Gombe and Plateau States.
He revealed that he held a security council with the head of security agencies in the state and the Secretary to the Bauchi State Government.
Garba added that security operatives had been deployed in the area and they were already pursuing bandits.
When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Ahmed Mohammed Wakil, could neither deny nor confirm the attack, but only promised to make the police’s position known to the public after he might have received information on it.
