Bandits kill 7, injure baby, raze property in Katsina

Bandits numbering over 20 have stormed Nasarawa Faskari and Ruwan Godiya in Faskari LGA, killing seven people, injuring a year-old baby and many others late on  Monday night.

According to the locals, the bandits also torched houses, shops and all the vehicles in the village.

A resident, Sabiu Abubakar, whose wife and one-year-old baby were receiving treatment at Funtua General Hospital, said it was a surprise attack that left the people shocked and traumatised.

“We were relaxing at about 9:15pm when the bandits invaded us and opened fire. They gunned down seven people including our ward head,  Malam Haruna Wakili. They also injured my wife and our one-year-old baby who are now receiving treatment at the hospital.”

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He added that the seven injured people were also receiving treatment at the same facility.

“There was a 20-year-old man that was burnt down in his room. The bandits looted some shops and went away,” Abubakar added.

Another resident of the village, Auwal Ibrahim, said that besides Nasarawa Faskari, the bandits also attacked Ruwan Godiya and Kyabirshiyar Danfillo where they wounded many people.

“On their way to our village, they passed through Kyabirshiyar Danfillo where they killed and wounded an unspecified number of people. They also invaded Ruwan Godiya simultaneously with our village. It is very sad that our able-bodied men were killed and wounded,” he lamented.

Ibrahim decried delayed response from soldiers stationed at Yankara in the same Faskari LGA.

When contacted, the PPRO of Katsina Police Command, ASP Abubakar Sadiq Aliyu, confirmed the incident, saying, however, that only six people were killed, while 10 were injured and three houses, and 10 vehicles were set ablaze.

The command, according to him, has deployed its tactical, operational and intelligence units to the scene to comb the surrounding bushes for possible arrest of the perpetrators.

Recently, bandits in the state have renewed their attacks across some LGAs apparently in their efforts to discredit the steps the state governor, Mallam Dikko Umar Radda, is taking to curtail banditry in the state.