Bandits have killed no fewer than 12 persons while 21 people were abducted in fresh attacks of some communities in Kaduna and Katsina states. A youth leader, Abashe Dauda, told Daily Sun that 11 bodies were discovered at Gaida Kaso and five others missing when gunmen launched an offensive on Gaida Kaso and Wako Kaso villages, Kakau Ward in Chikun local government area of Kaduna State, on Tuesday. He added that two other persons were shot at Wako Kaso village, but survived the attack that lasted for hours.
He said the killings in the adjoining agrarian communities were becoming tensed up daily with no tangible help from the government to salvage the situation.
He said: “A community called Gaida Kaso village, Kakau ward, Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna state, was attacked on 18/5/2021 by unknown gunmen.
“The attack was carried out at about 3am, houses were set ablaze, 11 persons confirmed dead and five are nowhere to be found.
“The gunmen also attacked a nearby community called Wako in Kaso Village, two were shot and sustained gunshot injury and are receiving treatment.
“Assemblies of God Church and one mission house were burnt down in the process,” he said.
Both Kaduna State Police Command and the State’s Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs are yet to make any official statement about the development as the time of filing this report.
Also, on Tuesday night, armed bandits reportedly attacked Batsari town in Batsari Local Government Area in Katsina State, killing one person and abducted 21 others.
An eyewitness said that the armed bandits stormed into Batsari community at about 10:20pm and started shooting sporadically before they abducted 21 persons, mostly women and children, while a man simply identified as Alhaji Hassan was shot dead.
Efforts to get the police authorities in Katsina State to comment on the incident proved abortive as the spokesperson, Gambo Isah, did not respond to calls to his phone.
The police command had, earlier on Tuesday night, confirmed the abduction of a judge, Alhaji Husaini Sama’ila, by gunmen at a Shari’a Court at Baure Zaka village in Safana Local Government Area of the State. The judge was said to have been kidnapped around 3:00 pm, on Tuesday, while on a personal visit to the court.
The police spokesman: “As you all know, the court has not been on the session since the commencement of the strike action embarked by the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN).
“The judge took the risk and went to the court. He didn’t inform the police about his going to the court, knowing fully that the place is not secured enough,” he said.