Police claim false, bandits abducted 120 persons in our village – Zamfara resident

A resident says 120 people were abducted on Sunday night in an aback by bandits on Goran Namaye village in Zamfara State.

The police spokesperson in the state, Mohammed Shehu, had said four people were killed and 50 others kidnapped in the attack.

He added that the Commissioner of Police, Yakubu Elkana, had ordered search and rescue operations for the victims.

But speaking to BBC Hausa as monitored by Premium Times, a villager who witnessed the horror, Ibrahim Sulaiman, said the figure now stands at 120.

Mr Sulaiman said a day after the attack, the district head of the area directed the traditional rulers to conduct house to house checks to ascertain the number of those kidnapped by the bandits.

“We conducted a house to house count, asking questions to verify those who have been kidnapped. We found out that several people who got scared and ran into the bush returned after the bandits had left

“Others who left the town for safer places were also reached through phones. When we finished the counting, we found out that there were 120 people that could not be accounted for,” he added.

He noted that in his house alone, “nine people, including his eldest brother, have been kidnapped”.

According to him, when the bandits entered the community around 1:35 a.m., they started shooting before going from house to house, “choosing people to kidnap”.

“They gathered those they kidnapped from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. and took them away with them,” he said.

He further noted that people of the town met at the house of the district head where a comprehensive list was made of those kidnapped, adding that it tallied with their earlier submission.

Communities in Maradun and Bakura local government areas of Zamfara State have been facing renewed attacks by bandits in recent days.

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Mr Shehu, the police spokesperson, said he would verify their claim and revert.

Since Nigeria Air Force jets bombed their camps in the Sububu and the Bakura forests, bandits have intensified attacks on communities in Bakura, Maradun and Talata Mafara local government areas.

Recently, they attacked Zamfara State College of Agriculture and Animal Sciences.

Last week alone, Yarkofoji and Rini, both neighbouring communities of Goran Namaye, were attacked by the bandits suspected to be loyal to bandit-kingpin, Halilu Kachalla.