Bandits kill 15 farmers in Katsina

Fifteen farmers were, on Monday, killed by bandits at ‘Yar Gamji village of Batsari Local Government Area in Katsina State.

The people in the village said some farmers were working on their farms on Monday when the bandits struck, killing fifteen of them.

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The bandits arrived at about 10am and carried out the attack that lasted for over an hour, a local told Daily Trust.

“It was after the bandits left that we came to take the corpses.

“We counted 15 corpses in the farms,” one of the villagers who didn’t want his identity disclosed said.

He said the deceased would be buried today.

Daily Trust reports that ‘Yar gamji village which is on the Katsina-Dutsinma-Kankara-Funtua road is less than 30 kilometers to Katsina metropolis seat of the state police headquarters, a military battalion and the Katsina airport where the base of the air operations against bandits in the North West is located.

By road, it will take 30 minutes for the police or military to reach the village from Katsina and go after the motorcycle riding bandits.

It will take less than 10 minutes for an attack helicopter or any other plane to reach the scene of the daylight attack by bandits.

It is also a semi-desert area with no forest cover on all sides.

The spokesman of the state police command, SP Gambo Isah, confirmed the killing.

He said the rainfall made many farmers move into the farms and the bandits numbering over 200 came on motorcycles armed and attacked them.