Bandits have killed 13 people and seven persons critically injured at Tara village in Sabon Birni Local Government Area of Sokoto State.
The injured are currently receiving treatment at the hospital.
Village head of Tara, Mainasara Muhammed Tara, said that the bandits burned down all the food storage facilities int he town and also carted away an unascertained number of livestock.
According to the Village Head, “the came around 11:58 pm, through the uncommon route to the village because our men and youth are guarding all the major entrances. We have not been sleeping in the night because of the incessant attacks on our villages.
”We divided ourselves into groups and each group was guarding one of the major entrance into the village. So they sneaked into the village through the eastern axis, and opened fire on members of the group that were stationed around that area, killing both of them.
”They then proceeded into the town, killing people at sight. We just buried 13 bodies, including a six-year-old girl and seven people who were critically injured have been taken to the nearest hospital for treatment.”
He lamented that the Joint Task Force who were alerted earlier did nothing to protect them.
Muhammed noted that this was the second time in two months that the village was attacked, recalling that they had lost about 200 livestock in the previous attack.
Asked if they would remain in the village after the attack, he said, “We don’t have anywhere to go that is more secure.
”We can’t abandon our village because of this attack, already we have lost virtually everything, our grains, livestock and wealth,” he said.
When contacted, the spokesman of the Sokoto Police Command, ASP Sanusi Abubakar promised to provide details of the attack after coming back from the village.
“Right now, we are on our way to the village to see for ourselves what happened. I will brief you after coming back,” he pledged.
First published in Daily Trust, https://dailytrust.com/13-killed-in-attack-on-sokoto-village