Suspected bandits have attacked Gangara village in Sabon Birni Local Government Area of Sokoto State, killing 22 people and razing down several property.
According to eyewitness accounts, some of the villagers sustained injuries from gunshot while scores of them were still unaccounted for.
The injured ones were taken to the nearest hospitals for treatment while those who lost their lives in the attack had been buried in accordance with the tenets of Islam.
One of the witnesses, Laminu Umar, told our reporter that this was the first time the village was attacked after several fruitless attempt in the past by the bandits.
“They had made several attempts to invade the village but were foiled by the locals. We are suspecting that they invited their friends from other states and that was why they succeeded this time around,” he stated.
“They came around 3:30 pm on over 150 motorcycles, each carrying three armed men. They started shooting sporadically, killing people at sight, burning their houses and vehicles.”
According to him, the miscreants, who operated for about two hours, also went away with the villagers’ livestock.
Another witness, who pleaded anonymity, said the invaders ran into bushes after seeing military vehicles approaching the village.
“We just buried 22 corpses, and we are still searching for more in the bushes. There are several others who are being treated for gunshots in the hospitals,” Umar said.
The spokesman of the Sokoto State Police Command, DSP Muhammad Sadiq, confirmed the attack and promised to give more details of the attack after coming back from their monitoring of compliance to the ongoing closure of inter-state routes by the Sokoto government.
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