Bandits kill 29 in Zamfara

Bandits on Tuesday killed 29 people in Babban Rafi village in Gummi Local Government Area of Zamfara State.

An indigene of the village, Musa Ibrahim, who narrowly escaped from being killed, said the bandits arrived at the village on the early hours of Tuesday on motorbikes and carried AK 47 rifles.

He told journalists the bandits shot sporadically and killed many people, while others scampered for safety.

The bandits, according to him, also pursued those who ran away and killed some of them.

He said: “I was one of those who ran into the bush. I managed to escape because I was able to climb a tree where I could not be seen.”

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But the state police command claimed on Thursday that 14 people were killed in the attack.

The command spokesman, Mohammed Shehu, said in a statement: “Zamfara State Police Command has confirmed the killing of 14 people following an attack on the remote village of Babban Rafi in Gummi LGA near Danko in Kebbi State.

“The attack occurred on the 15th of January, 2020 where a large number of armed bandits suspected to have come from neighbouring Kebbi State stormed the village in the night and started shooting sporadically, a situation that resulted in the death of 14 people.

“Combined teams of PMF/CTU/FSARS attached to ‘Operation Puff Adder’ in conjunction with men from ‘Operation Hadarin Daji’ mobilized to the area with a view to trailing the perpetrators for arrest and to also avoid further attack on neighbouring villages.”

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