Bandits Kill 30 in Fresh Attacks on Katsina Communities

No fewer than 30 persons have been killed in a fresh attack launched by suspected armed bandits in Tsauwa and Dankar villages of Batsari Local Government Areas, Katsina State.

 According to residents of the villages, the suspected bandits, numbering about 50 on motorcycles launched the fresh onslaught on the villages at about 6:45pm, which rendered many of them homeless.

They claimed that the attack on the villages forced hundreds of residents to flee their ancestral homes to Batsari, the headquarters of Batsari local government area.

While the bandits met stiff resistance in Dankar from the security operatives and residents, the residents claimed that they had a field day in Tsauwa where they sacked the villages, destroyed and looted shops and rustled an unspecified numbers of cattle.

The state governor, Alhaji Aminu Masari had granted amnesty to bandits after a tour to Fulani settlements and strong enclaves of the bandits in Rugu Forest on September 4-9, 2019 during which the bandits and forest commanders denounced banditry and accepted peace.

Other governors of states in the North-west had adopted the peace initiative after a peace summit the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu convened in Katsina.

The initiative had culminated in discussions with representatives of the bandits from the affected States of Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Sokoto, Kaduna and Zamfara States.

Five months after the Katsina State Government granted amnesty to repentant bandits, residents of the state had claimed that the peace accord had collapsed citing renewed armed attacks and nefarious activities in the state.