Five killed, several abducted as bandits lay siege on Kaduna communities

Bandits are said to have killed about five people and also abducted an unspecified number of others; they attacked some communities in Birnin Gwari local government area of Kaduna State.

Birnin-Gwari Vanguard for Security & Good Governance who disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday, said terrorists raided the villages of Awaro, Unguwar Shehu, Rhema and some communities in Dagara, leaving about 5 people dead, while an unspecified number of others were abducted.

The bandits were also reported to have razed down several buildings in the communities including churches, mosques, shops and residential buildings.

According to the group, the attackers also ransacked food barns and stole grains, maize, livestock and other food crops.

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The group added that several residents of the affected communities are now taking refuge in Internally Displaced Person Camps in Birnin-Gwari town.

“The bandits struck communities and villages of Awaro, Unguwar Shehu, Rhema and some communities in Dagara, adjoining the Kamuku Forest, from Sunday to the early hours of Monday (yesterday), burning villages as well as abducting people and carting away grains from those farming communities.

“Three people were killed at Sabon Gida community, while two people were killed at Rhema mining community as well as the abduction of three women and an unspecified number of men were also abducted to the bush in the latest incident in Birnin-Gwari.

“Women, children and the aged were seen from late afternoon yesterday up to late-night trooping Birnin-Gwari as Internally Displaced Person’s (IDPs). The communities of Kungin DanBauchi along Birnin-Gwari-Funtua road are also in Birnin-Gwari town as IDPs after the bandits’ attacks.

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“The communities were dislocated from their settlement barely forty-eight hours after armed bandits clashed with a notorious warlord in Damari that led the community to escape to Dogon-Dawa as refugees.

“At the moment, the villages of Kimbi, Katakaki in Kakangi ward in Birnin-Gwari neighboring Kuyanbana Forest in Zamfara State was sacked by bandits, while farmers were unable to harvest their crops due to incessant armed bandit attacks and abduction,” the group said.