Terrorists burn army armoured vehicle, kill four in Zamfara community

Bandits, yesterday morning, launched fresh onslaught on Dansadau community, in Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State, killing four villagers. They also kidnapped 14 others and set ablaze a military armoured personnel vehicle in the community.

A resident of the community, Nuhu Dansadau, who confirmed the incident to THISDAY in a telephone interview said the bandits invaded the community at about 2:45am and operated till 6:am before they whisked away the 14 residents.

He said the bandits besieged the community and fired several shots in the air and then went into some houses and abducted the 14 people, including children and women, saying several people in the community fled for safety.

He added that the invaders also injured seven other residents before they burnt the military armoured personnel vehicle, stating that despite the ongoing peace and reconciliation programme being run by the state government, killing and kidnapping of innocent people remained the order of the day in Zamfara.

He said: “As we speak, one of the injured victims has been moved to Federal Medical Centre, Gusau. The 14 kidnapped victims include seven children, three women and four men. The military armoured personnel vehicle while trying to fight the bandits hit a pole and the soldiers abandoned it and ran away. When the bandits discovered that the soldiers left the armoured car, they went and set it ablaze.”

He added: “We received information that the bandits are holding meeting in a nearby village called Danguruku and we have informed – the military, police and our civilian JTF. You know, they attacked our community because they said we assisted security personnel to rescue the military pilot that his aircraft was shot down.”

While calling on the government to deploy more security personnel to the community to end the scourge, Dansadau said military, police and other paramilitary personnel were grossly inadequate to tackle what he termed daily killing and kidnapping of farmers in the community.

Meanwhile, the incident is coming barely a few days after 100 kidnapped victims from Manawa village under the Dansadau district were released by the marauders, and barely a week after a military Alpha jet was shot down by the bandits in the state.

As at the time of filing this report, the state police command was yet to confirm the latest attack, though the public relations officer promised to get back to journalists with more information.
Dansadau community is about 99 kilometers from Gusau the Zamfara State capital and is one of the hottest zones in terms of banditry, kidnappings, and other nefarious activities in the state. (THISDAY)