Tears as gunmen attack Katsina villages, kill seven, kidnap others

Armed persons Tuesday night attacked two villages in Faskari Local Government Area of Katsina State. Residents said at least seven people were killed in the attacks while some residents were kidnapped.

Lawal Mamman, a native of the area, who lives in Katsina town, told PREMIUM TIMES that the attacks commenced at about 9 p.m. He said the attacks occurred at Unguwar Ibrahim Maiwada and Kanon Haki villages.

“They operated from around 9 p.m. to the early morning hours in the Unguwar Ibrahim Maiwada before they went to Kanon Haki on the Zaria – Sokoto highway. My brother told me that he has seen the corpses of the five people killed in Kanon Haki while several others were injured,” Mr Mamman said in a phone interview.

He said the whereabouts of six vigilante members who tried to confront the bandits could not be ascertained at the time of this report. But residents fear they have been killed by the bandits, he said.

A resident of Unguwar Ibrahim Maiwada told PREMIUM TIMES that two people were killed during the attack while five women were kidnapped.

“What we learnt from the vigilante members that followed them was that they (bandits) divided themselves into two. While some returned to Kanon Haki to launch an attack, others went into the bush with the five women abducted,” he said.

Efforts to reach the Katsina police spokesperson, Gambo Isa, were unsuccessful as he did not return calls nor reply to messages sent to him.

Attacks such as that of Tuesday night have become commonplace in Katsina State where terror groups, operating as bandits, attack communities at will. Other states suffering from similar attacks are Zamfara, Sokoto, Kaduna and Niger.

The attacks have continued despite the heavy deployment of security personnel to the region. Premium Times