Bandits Kill 15, Burn Many Houses At Katsina Villages

Bandits were said to have killed 15 persons and burnt many houses at Gobirawa and Sha Ka Wuce villages in Safana Local Government Area of Katsina State Tuesday night. The attack made many residents flee to Runka town. The chairman of the local government, Abba Safana, yesterday said 14 people were killed at Gobirawa and one at Shaka Wuce. He said “a corpse was uncovered in a burnt building and another person hospitalised has just died.” He said but for the timely intervention of the police and other security personnel, the causality figure would have been higher. He said the government was compiling the list of those affected with a view to assisting them. The spokesman of the state police command, SP Gambo Isah, said at about 18:10hours, a group of bandits operating on over 150 motorcycles, attacked the villages, killing 13 persons as at the early morning of Wednesday. He said an unspecified number of houses were torched and animals rustled animals. “Police patrol teams were dispatched to the scene and engaged the hoodlums in gun duel and chased them out of the villages. One motorcycle was recovered from the bandits,” he added. He gave the names of those killed as Umar Danbaba, Amadu Danliti, Mamuda Tinau, Saidu Yaro, Abubakar Nabau, Yakubu Danmagin, Abubakar Habule, Haro Mai Awo, Audu Bagobiri, and Surajo Joni He said the police would do everything possible to bring the bandits to justice and end their activities. Meanwhile, the member representing Safana at the state assembly, Abduljalal Runka, said people were leaving in fear and called on the federal government to fully extend the Zamfara operations to Katsina State.