10 die, others injured as Police, bandits exchange bullets in Katsina

Eight bandits have been gunned down by police in Batsari Local Government Area of Katsina State.

The Nation learnt that heavily-armed bandits invaded a village in the local council on August 6, killing two elderly residents.

A police team, which went after the bandits, was ambushed, leading to a shootout with the outlaws.

One of the bandits was shot dead, while others escaped with injuries, police spokesman Gambo Isah said in a statement.

Seven bodies of the bandits were later discovered by a search party, Isah said in the statement.

Police also recovered about 30 rustled cows and N22,300 cash from the bodies of the dead bandits, Isah said in the statement issued on Saturday.

A group, Southern Kaduna Indigenous Peace Practitioners (SOKIPEP), has called for the prosecution of perpetrators of violence in the area.

SOKIPEP urged the military to hand over to the police suspected militia members arrested in connection with violence in Southern Kaduna.

In a statement by one Rev Dauda Fadia, the group demanded for improved security for the region.

“We appeal to the military to hand over suspected militia members in their custody to the police, after parading them in public for transparency and subsequent prosecution.

In Nasarawa, Governor Abdullahi Sule, while inspecting work at the site of a mobile police training school, said the establishment of the training school will help tackle insecurity in the state.

A traditional ruler in the state, the Ohimege Opanda, HRH Usman Abdullahi urged the federal and state governments to adopt new strategies in tackling banditry in the state.

“Anytime the bandits attacks my area, they will be saying Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, which means we have another Boko Haram in our forest here,” Abdullahi said, while addressing journalists at his  palace at the weekend.

President Muhammadu Buhari called for more support from traditional institutions in the fight against insecurity.

He spoke at the weekend at the palace of the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, according to a statement by Dr. Umar Jibrilu Gwandu, media aide of the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami.

Gwandu said the President was represented by Malami, who led the Minister of Police Affairs, Muhammad Maigari Dingyadi and the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Muhammad Adamu to the wedding ceremony of the children of Ambassador Shehu Malami and the late Alhaji Musa Abubakar.

The President thanked the monarch for his support, adding that the government will do with more support from traditional institutions.  (The Nation)