Bandits kill 13 vigilantes in Zamfara

Witnesses told Sunday Trust that the vigilantes in Gidan Kaso village and their colleagues in the neighbouring villages came together to confront the armed bandits who they described as heartless in order to dislodge them from their camps in the forest along Zamfara -Katsina border.The vigilantes, wielding local weapons, including dane guns, who stormed the […]

Witnesses told Sunday Trust that the vigilantes in Gidan Kaso village and their colleagues in the neighbouring villages came together to confront the armed bandits who they described as heartless in order to dislodge them from their camps in the forest along Zamfara -Katsina border.
The vigilantes, wielding local weapons, including dane guns, who stormed the forest to flush out the bandits, met stiff opposition from the bandits believed to be using superior firepower.
It was also gathered that the armed bandits chased the vigilantes back to Gidan Kaso where they had their base and started firing at residents, thereby torching houses and stockpiles of food in the local silos, including the village head’s silos and house.
“When they came around 7am yesterday, they blocked all escape routes and started shooting at residents at sight. But I can’t tell you the exact number of people killed in that village because most of the residents have fled the area,” said Mallam Kabir Yusha’u.
Mallam Yusha’u said several people, including a woman who suffered gunshots when she was trying to escape the mayhem with her children, sustained various degrees of injuries.
 He said they were taken to hospitals for treatment, adding that the bandits withdrew and stationed themselves a few kilometers away from the village.
The spokesman of Zamfara state police command DSP Lawal Abdullahi confirmed the incident.
He said 13 members of the vigilante groups were killed, adding that the police patrol teams had been deployed to the area.
He said calmness had returned to the area, while the Criminal Investigation Department had commenced investigation into the matter, warning the general public to desist from taking laws into their hands as anyone found wanting would be decisively dealt with.