Scores Feared Killed By Bandits In Five Katsina Communities

More than 50 people that include women and children are feared to have been killed by ravaging bandits in five communities in Faskari Local Government Area of Katsina State.

The communities affected include Kadisau where more than 30 people were killed, Kabalawa with nine dead, Kwakware, five, Unguwar Wahabi, three, and Raudama, one.

In Kadisau, bandits numbering about 100 riding on motorcycles, stormed the village in the evening, while youths were playing football and residents preparing for prayers.

The bandits were said to have also raped several women in the area, set houses and food stores ablaze, while domestic animals that include cows, goats and sheep, were rustled.

Sources, who spoke on the issue said the village had become a ghost town as most residents have fled to the headquarters of the council area, or elsewhere, in fear.

Hassan Mohammed, who is the former chairman of the area and current Personal Assistant to the National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Umar Tsauri; confirmed more than 30 dead in Kadisau.

Tsauri said a security guard at a school recently constructed by the state government was shot dead during the incident.

He said five more corpses were evacuated early Wednesday morning from the hospital, even as several others are lying in critical condition at the hospital.

He also said that two additional bodies of the victims were also evacuated from a neighbouring irrigation farm in the area.

“In Kwakware, five people lost their lives, while three were killed in Unguwar Wahabi. The bandits also killed one person in Raudama, nine in Kabalawa.

“Most of the victims were from Kadisau village where more than 32 people lost their lives. I was told two bodies were recovered from the fadama (irrigation farm), while security at the newly-built school by government, was also killed.”

He said those killed would be buried Wednesday morning, even as he called for prompt government intervention to check the problem which has become a frequent occurrence.

On Tuesday morning, youths in their numbers had staged a protest at Yantumaki village following the abduction of a man and his daughter.

The incident had come less than a week after bandits shot and killed a monarch in the area, Alhaji Atiku Maidabino.

The youths, who set posters of President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor Aminu Masari’s billboard ablaze, also burnt tires and blocked the major road in the area.

The state has seen a recent surge in cases of banditry, including abductions, rape and rustling, with the federal government ordering deployment of security to combat the bandits.

But a spokesman for the police command, SP Gambo Isah is yet to respond to inquiries made on the issue as at the time of the report.