A gang of cattle thieves in Nigeria’s troubled north ambushed and killed 41 vigilantes in a forest who had mobilized from a number of villages within the Bakori district of Katsina state to trace down the gang, which had stolen cattle from an area the day past.
Katsina state police spokesman Gambo Isah stated the vigilantes have been ambushed late Friday by the thieves, who killed 41 and injured two others. He stated the vigilantes have been armed with Kalashnikov rifles.
“The hoodlums shot and killed 41 Yansakai (vigilantes) and wounded two,” he stated, including that their our bodies had been recovered. “A joint security operation is ongoing to bring the perpetrators to book,” he stated.
Residents stated 52 folks had been killed within the assault within the Yargoje forest within the neighboring Kankara district. “The police went into the forest between Thursday and Friday and brought 52 bodies of the vigilantes in two batches,” Idris Usman stated. He stated dozens of different vigilantes have been additionally delivered to the hospital with accidents.
Another native, Abdullahi Sada, gave the precise toll, saying the attackers have been from neighboring Zamfara state.
Katsina is amongst a number of states within the northwest. Central Nigeria is terrorized by felony gangs who raid villages, kill residents, kidnap for ransom, steal cattle, and burn properties after looting them. The models keep camps in an enormous forest straddling the states of Katsina, Zamfara, Kaduna, and Niger.
The southern a part of Katsina, together with Bakori and Kankara, lies close to the border with Zamfara and has been repeatedly focused by gangs based mostly within the adjoining state.
Bandits kidnaped greater than 300 schoolboys in Kankara in December 2021. The pupils have been taken to Zamfara and launched after the ransom was paid.
Local communities then shaped vigilante teams to struggle assaults by felony gangs. However, the militia was outlawed by state authorities for lack of fundamental safety coaching, which, they are saying, uncovered them to pointless hazard.
“This unfortunate loss of lives of these vigilantes was the result of taking laws into their (own) hands,” Ibrahim Ahmad Katsina, safety adviser to the governor, informed Agence France-Presse (AFP). “We have told communities not to go after terrorists when they attack them but to inform security agencies promptly,” he added.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
