Ahmed Abubakar, Dutse
Suspected armed bandits have attacked Garin Mai-dawa village in Dutse Local Government Area killing one Alhaji Mohammed Jinjiri while nine people including children sustained gunshot wounds.
The attack was allegedly carried out at around 3 am on Thursday morning; the attackers came in their numbers demanding to be shown the house of a prominent businessman, Alhaji Abdulkadir.
The armed bandits demanded money after gaining entry into Alhaji Abdulkadir’s residence where they tortured his wife, Raihana Muhammed, who later yielded to their pressure and gave them all the money in the house.
“They were carrying guns and menacingly pointing them at me demanding I should bring out the money my husband came home with and threatening to kill him if I refuse to do so,” she told our reporter.
She said her husband pleaded with her to go and get them the money he brought so that they could spare his life.
She said: “The terrible ordeal did not end after I have brought them the money as they insisted on having more but I told them that was all available,” she said.
She recalled that it was at that point that one of the criminals fired his gun at Alhaji Abdulkadir who fell instantly to the ground while a neighbour who hurried in to rescue him was shot dead.
The wife said, “we initially all thought our husband was killed until some people that came after the robbers have left found out that he is still breathing that was how he and the other victims that sustained gun injuries were rushed to the Rasheed Shekoni Teaching hospital in Dutse.”
The state deputy governor Barr Ibrahim Hassan, confirmed the incidence to our correspondent on the telephone that the criminals were armed robbers who had allegedly tracked down one Alhaji Abdulkadir from the market to his residence for money.
The deputy governor said people should not panic as the police had been adequately briefed and would trace and arrest the culprits.
The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Bala, Zama Senchi, also confirmed the attack by the robbers and declared that the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) had been mobilised to the area and assured that the criminals would be brought to book.