Agaju Madugba, Katsina
Days after suspected bandits reportedly killed no fewer than 30 residents of Tsawa, and Dankar villages in Batsari Local Government Area of Katsina State, gunmen yesterday morning, stormed the Gurbi village of Kankara LGA killing four residents.
Katsina state Police Public Relations Officer, SP. Gambo Isa, however, said that the police succeeded in killing 17 of the suspected bandits during during a shoot-out.
DSP Isa in a statement made available to Daily Sun, said : “On February 27, at about 3am, a distress call was received by the police that bandits in their numbers armed with AK 47 rifles stormed Gurbi village, Kankara LGA of the state, killed four persons and rustled large number of domestic animals after they received a fierce resistance by the local vigilante groups.
“The Commissioner of Police, directed the divisional police officer, Kankara Division to lead Operation Puff Adder in collaboration with vigilance groups to the scene.
“The team succeeded in killing 17 suspected bandits and recovered 80 cows, 180 sheep ,and a donkey which the hoodlums earlier stole from the village and other neighbouring villages.
“Some of the bandits managed to escape with gunshot wounds. Operatives are combing the nearby bushes for the arrest of the fleeing bandits and recovery of their operational weapons.”
Armed bandits, cattle rustlers and kidnappers have continued to terrorise a number of Katsina communities even several months after Governor Aminu Bello Masari ,said he struck a deal with a cross section of the hoodlums to embrace the dialogue option.
Eight out of the 34 LGAs of the state have since received the tag of “frontline” due to the frequency of attacks in parts of the areas.The areas are :Safana, Batsari, Jibia, Dan-Musa, Dutsima, Kankara, Dandume, and Sabuwa.
But with recent developments, the hoodlums have seemingly expanded their areas of operations to include parts of Batagarawa, Rimi, Danja, Matazu, Kaita, Dutsima and Malumfashi Local Government Areas.