Police Headquarters

John Shiklam 

About 20 people were reportedly killed by unknown gunmen in the Dogon-Dawa village,  Birnin Gwari Local government area of Kaduna state.

Among those killed, were a man and his two children while his wife’s hand was cut by the rampaging bandits who were said to have been on revenge mission.

But the police claimed that 12 people were killed  when some of the  villagers arrested some robbers.

The incident was said to have occurred at about 5 am on Sunday when the gun men said to have been responsible for series of robbery operations in the area in the past visited their anger on the community for alleged killing  some of their gang members.

A resident of the village who spoke on condition of anonymity the community thought the criminals had left the area, only for them to come.

He said on their arrival to the village, they went to the house of the deceased who they suspected to be responsible for identifying their gang members and killed him and two of his children while one of the wife’s hand was cut off.

According to him, 17 people who were just coming from the early morning prayers were killed by the gang.

He explained that  sometimes ago, there were series of robbery in the area especially along the Kaduna/ Birnin Gwari highway. Some women were even raped in the process.

“So, a committee was set up to help find those that were responsible and put an end to it. The committee did a good job as they were able to identify some of those responsible for the robbery incidents and other criminal activities in the area.

“A former Village Head in Dogon Dawa was in charge of the committee that was responsible for sanitising the area and that was why, in the last three month, there was no robbery in the area as the people were able to identify the criminals and they were being eliminated silently one after the other.

“The criminal must have fled the village when they discovered that they no longer have a base there.

“But this morning, the criminals came back and went to the house of the man they suspected to be responsible for identifying them, killed him and two of his children and cut the hand of his wife.

“They also killed 17 other people in the village. Those people they killed were just coming from the early morning prayers.

“I can confirm to you that it was not a robbery operation, but it was the criminals themselves that came for a reprisal attack because the people have been identifying them”.

Sources claimed that the criminals had earlier sent messages that they were coming to attack the village, but their threat was not taken seriously.

However, when contacted on telephone, the Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, Olufemi Adenaike said he was yet to get details of the incident because of poor communication problems

“I heard some villagers arrested armed robbers, then some robbers came back today (Sunday) and killed 12 people in a reprisal attack while the villagers killed two of them.

“The rumour going on that 20 people were killed while coming from mosque is not true but I will get back to you when I get full details” the police commissioner said.