Bandits gun down policeman at Zamfara checkpoint

Bandits, on Sunday attacked a police checkpoint at Tazame village in Zamfara State, killing a policeman and injuring others.

The checkpoint is located less than a kilometer to Kwatarkwashi, a town next to Gusau, the state capital.

Multiple sources told Daily Trust that the bandits riding over 40 motorbikes stormed the checkpoint around 4am on Sunday.

The bandits, one of the sources, said burnt all the valuables they found at the checkpoint before they zoomed off.

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“The bandits overpowered the policemen on duty because they exchanged fire with them for some minutes before they overrode the police and set the place on fire.

“I learnt that the remaining policemen ran for their lives. The bandits outnumbered the police, hence, the police could not confront them in gun battle. We are lucky some of the policemen escaped from the scene otherwise the story would have been different by now.”

Efforts to reach the Zamfara Police Command’s Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Yazid Abubakar, for comment proved abortive, as he neither pick the calls put him by this reporter nor respond to the text message sent to him.