The Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has disputed the Zamfara State Police Command’s claim that its joint security team overpowered some bandits who attacked security operatives in the state.
The spokesperson for the police command, Muhammad Shehu, had said that on October 28, a joint police and civil defence team deployed along Kaura Namoda–Shinkafi Road were ambushed by suspected bandits who came in a large number.
According to the police, which had sought to downplay the bandits’ attack, after several hours of engaging the bandits in a gun duel, “some of the assailants were neutralised while others escaped with possible gunshot injuries.”
However, narrating what happened, the NSCDC said the bandits, numbering about 150 and with “heavy weaponry”, had “engaged operatives in exchange of fire.”
NSCDC spokesperson, Ikhor Oche, noted in the statement that the team of the joint security forces was overpowered even after it got reinforcement.
“All the same, one of the NSCDC personnel, a driver, was killed while other officers had to run for cover. The bandits set the vehicle ablaze along with corpse of the personnel, and while returning to Shinkafi, one personnel also got missing.
“During NSCDC’s search, the missing person was found dead and right now his corpse is on its way to Maru, his hometown. This brings to two, the number of NSCDC personnel that died in the attack. I cannot ascertain the extent of what happened to men of the other security agency, but it equally recorded losses,” the spokesperson stated.
SaharaReporters had on Friday reported that bandits killed at least 20 operatives of the Nigerian security agencies in the Shinkafi Local Government Area of Zamfara State after which the bandits set their corpses on fire.
The security operatives had been sent to a village where bandits had been ravaging for a long time without any security stoppage.
The bandits had reportedly ambushed the security operatives, killed a score of them and set the corpses on fire in the early hours of Friday.
Among the victims was Alhaji Shehu Mallami, a resident of the community.
When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), Aminu Mary, had confirmed the attack, saying that the state commandant of the corps already left to the scene to ascertain what really happened.