Reports from the Nigeria Police in Zamfara State, say Bandits on Monday morning attacked Goran Namaye in the Maradun local government area of Zamfara State, Nigeria killing five people and abducting 50 others.
Spokesman for the command, Mohammed Shehu, initially put the figure of those abducted from the town at 25. He later gave an updated figure, saying 50 people were abducted after “thorough findings” by the police.
Shehu said the police have drafted tactical operatives to pursue the bandits and rescue the kidnapped victims.
An indigene of Gora Namaye, Sule Gora, who spoke to newsmen on phone, said the bandits invaded the village around 1:30am. According to him, the attack lasted for over four hours before the armed men left the area.
He explained that the bandits who arrived on motorcycles surrounded the village and began shooting sporadically.
The villager said, “I have never witnessed such a calamity in my life.”
He explained that the bandits targeted a former Commissioner of Local Government in the state, Yahaya Gora, who was out of the village at the time of the attack.
Another source in the village also disclosed that the Mobile Police Unit stationed in the village engaged the bandits in a gunfight which forced the bandits to flee, leaving two AK-47 rifles and an RPG launcher.
He, however, lamented that the bandits still sent a letter to the village in the evening, threatening to come back to pick the weapons left behind.
Due to the incident and attacks in other places, Governor Bello Matawalle convened a security meeting held behind closed doors at the Government House in Gusau, the state capital.
As of press time, the outcome of the meeting attended by the state security chiefs, traditional rulers, Council of Ulama, and other security stakeholders, had yet to be revealed by the authorities in Zamfara.