Terrorists Ransack Katsina Village, Kill 11, Abduct Village Head, Others

Francis Sardauna

Gunmen suspected to be terrorists, yesterday, ransacked Guga village in Bakori Local Government Area of Katsina State, where they killed 11 persons and abducted five others,including the village Head identified as Alhaji Umar.

Also, a number of the villagers were said to be missing after the Tuesday morning attack while several others fled to neighbouring communities in the local government for safety.

A leader of vigilante groups in the area, who craved anonymity, told THISDAY in a telephone interview that the assailants numbering about 50, stormed the village at about 1:00am, when most of the residents were asleep.

“The terrorists came to this village at about 1:00am, when some people were still sleeping and started shooting sporadically. We tried to repel the attack but we couldn’t. So, they killed 11 people and kidnapped our village head, Alhaji Umar and four others,” he added.

He said the hoodlums also injured many residents, looted homes, shops and rustled dozens of animals during the attack, which he said, lasted several hours before the intervention of the “inadequate security personnel”.

He, however, appealed to the authorities to beef up security in the area as hardly a day passed without gunmen kidnapping a person or two, in the Bakori communities.

Police Public Relations Officer in the state, SP Gambo Isah, while confirming the incident to journalists, said the hoodlums killed eight people and kidnapped many others including the village Head, Umar.

According to him, the terrorists numbering over 40 armed with sophisticated weapons upon their arrival on motorcycles at about 1:00am started shooting sporadically to disperse the residents.

He explained that the terrorists, who were on rampage killed four persons at Guga village, four at Galadima community and abducted four during the attack that lasted many hours.

“The Divisional Police Officer of Bakori in response mobilised his men to the area but before getting there, the hoodlums had already committed their atrocities. We are making effort to identify the gunmen,” he said.