Photo: Terrorists
Gunmen kill 18 farmers, kidnap nursing mothers in Zamfara
Gunmen believed to be terrorists have killed no fewer than 18 farmers and abducted an unspecified number of nursing mothers in separate attacks between July 10 and 11, on two villages in Maru Local Government Area (LGA) of Zamfara State.
Those killed by the terrorists include Lawal Yusuf, Basiru D/Bakwai, Murtala D/Bakwai, Ashiru Sulaiman, and Dayyabu Adamu. Others are Sufiyanu Sani, 15, and Kamalu Sani, 18.
Confirming the incident, the village head of Kurfa. Ummaru Jikan Baura, , said:
“My wife, Meri Ummaru along with four other nursing mothers from Saran Gumawa of Gummi local government were kidnapped by the gang.
“They were forced to drop their babies at home while they went away with the nursing mothers.”
Also confirming the incident, Shehu Galma, one of the victims of the attack, said the assailants ransacked houses in search of slaughtered rams meant for the Sallah celebration.
Galma said, “The separate attacks were perpetrated by a terror leader called Damina and his boys.
“He asked our people to pay N2 million as a permit to cultivate our farms.
“All the 18 corpses identified in the aftermath were buried on Monday.
“In early June, we had a truce with them terrorists to open an embargo on our roads from Dangulbi to Magami and to Gusau, a 100 kilometers away from the capital city of the state that remained closed for more than a year.
Galma disclosed that the incessant attacks had forced some of the poor and unemployed youths from villages to become informants for the terrorists.
Rabiu Dangulbi, another resident, explained that closing the roads by the armed marauders for 14 months now has necessitated our people to cover over 213 km, instead of 45 km, to be able to pass through Kebbi State before reaching Gusau, the Zamfara State capital.
Also speaking, another resident, Yusuf Abdullahi, said, “That mast you are seeing has been there for almost five years but the Zamfara Government refused to connect us with the telecommunications network.
“We are using a mini solar powered network that only allows calls and messages to report attacks on our communities.”
Abdullahi added that villages such as Jabaka, Ruwan Doruwa, Danmarke Dansadau, Malele among others in Maru LGA have sufferred from a series of attacks over the years.
It would be recalled that out of frustration from the series of attacks, the Zamfara State Government recently directed residents to own guns for self-defence.
The Police Command in Zamfara had yet to officially react to the incidents as of the time of filing this report.
