SP Gambo Isah, spokesman of Katsina Police
At least 52 persons consisting of 50 vigilantes and two locals were reportedly killed in a clash with bandits while fighting over rustled cattles in Kankara community, Katsina State between Thursday and early hours of Friday.
15 women were also said to have been kidnapped during the onslaught on the Kankara bandits infested communities while no fewer than 10 cows were also rustled in the process.
One of the locals from the area who spoke to Vanguard on the condition of anonymity said the crisis started started at about 7:00am on Thursday when some villagers in conjunction with vigilantes from Bakori axis traced the footprint of their missing cattle to ‘Gidan Gamji’, a Fulani settlement in Kankara LGA of the state said to be under bandits control, demanding that their cattles be returned to them. But the bandits denied having possession of them, asking them to check somewhere else.
“The confrontation eventually resulted into a gunfight in which many of the vigilantes along with the villagers were ambushed and killed by the terrorists.
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“At least over 50 dead bodies have been recovered even as search is still ongoing in the bushes and farms with the view to recover more victims,” a reliable source told Vanguard.
Confirming the report, the Katsina Police Command in a statement issued by its spokesman, SP Gambo Isah however said that 41 people were killed in the clash:
He said:
‘The crisis actually started at about 10:00pm on Wednesday, 1 February 2023, when AK-47 yielding terrorists in their numbers attacked the house of one Alhaji Muntari, at Unguwar Audu Gare, Kandarawa, Bakori LGA, and rustled 50 cows and 30 sheep.
“Subsequently, on Thursday, 2 February 2023, at about 10:00am, ‘Yansakai’ the outlawed vigilante group, from 11 villages under Bakori LGA, regrouped and went after the terrorists with a view to recover the rustled domestic animals. They traced the footpath of the hoodlums to a location at Yargoje Forest.
“Unfortunately, the terrorists planned and launched a coordinated ambush on the outlawed vigilantes killing forty-one (41) of them and wounded two (2) others.
“The Area Commander, Malumfashi Police Division, led a team of Police men to the scene and recovered the corpses and the injured to Kankara General, Hospital. A joint security operations is currently ongoing with a view to bringing the perpetrators to book. Investigation is ongoing, please.”
Kankara lately has been under renewed attack by the hoodlums. Recall that on January 16, 2023, eight Christian women were abducted while on their way to Church at Gidan Haruna and they are yet to regain their freedom.
In addition, Vanguard also learnt that last week Friday, another 17 persons comprising of 15 females and two males were abducted from Gidan Ibra community under the same Kankara LGA and they are still held by the bandits as at the time of filing this report.
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