Terrorists, dressed in women’s dress (Abaya) have abducted 26 persons in Katsina State. They attacked Runka community, Safana area in the state on Saturday and abducted residents, mostly women and children.
One resident confirmed that the terrorists stormed the community at about 10.30 p.m., shooting sporadically.
In a separate incident in neighbouring Zamfara State late on Sunday, terrorists killed two security guards and kidnapped one person when they attacked the house of a famous businessman in the Gusau city on Sunday.
The attack in Katsina was attributed to the ‘despicable activities of informants’ who collaborate with the miscreants to disrupt government efforts in fighting the terrorists.
“The informants include even those in our community. One of the terrorists was even heard exchanging pleasantries with an informant, telling him ‘Today we’ve come to your hometown’.
“We’re yet to identify him,” he alleged.
Chairman of Safana Local Government Area in Katsina State, Abdullahi Sani Safana, confirmed the incident, stating that 22 abducted persons are yet to be accounted for, but some were able to escape.
He added that they were taken by surprise as the terrorists disguised wearing Abaya, a sort of dress worn by women in the area.
He said the DPO in the area has deployed his operatives, who together with soldiers stationed in the area have since commenced a rescue operation.
Abduljalal Haruna Runka, Deputy Speaker of the State House of Assembly, expressed shock over the lack of information on the movement of the terrorists before the fresh attack.
He said, usually the hoodlums will send information ahead of their attacks. But this time around, all channels of getting information to thwart the attack on Runka community were blocked.
“They just appeared in the middle of the night. We are going back to the drawing board to analyse the situation. To know why we couldn’t get the information,” he said.
Zamfara and Katsina are some of the states in the north-west battling a decade-long terrorism. Runka is vulnerable to terror attacks due to the boundaries it shares with the Rugu forest where various terror groups use as cover.