The Katsina State Police Command says 17 people, including 12 villagers, four vigilante members and a policeman, have been killed by bandits in a Katsina village.
Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, SP Gambo Isah confirmed the attack on Diskuru village in Dandume Local Government Area.
He described the attack as a reprisal, saying three bandits were killed in the village last week.
“Last week, the bandits came, and they didn’t find it easy with the villagers, because about three of them (bandits) were killed.
“So they went and regrouped and came back, over 200 of them on motorbikes, each carrying AK-47 rifle; they even came with a General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG),” Isah said.
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He said that the assailants killed 12 villagers in the attack and set many houses in the village on fire.
The police spokesman further disclosed that the Divisional Police Officer in the area, upon learning about the attack, alerted troops of Operation Sahel Sanity.
He said that intelligence at the disposal of the police showed that the bandits would pass through a cattle route that went into Faskari Local Government Area.
Isah said the military was alerted accordingly and troops set an ambush for the marauding horde.
He said that the huge number of the bandits enabled them to survive the ambush.
“As a result of that, one of our security personnel lost his life, and the bandits killed four of the vigilantes. Reinforcement from the Air force was sought, and they came and followed after the bandits.
“The report I have here with me was that so many of them were killed by the fighter jets and our officers are still there combing the forest with the view to recovering the corpses of the bandits,” Isah told Daily Trust.
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