Terror bandits in the early hours of Wednesday invaded Binnari and Jab Jab villages in Karim Lamido Local Government Area of Taraba State, Northeast Nigeria, killing at least 15 people, including three housewives and setting houses on fire.
Sources said that the bandits stormed Binnari at about 4am on Wednesday, shooting sporadically. But they met the villagers ready to fight back and were overpowered by the terrorising bandits who were over 50.
Sources confirmed that the bandits attacked the two villages in retaliation of killing of some kidnappers by vigilante in the area a few weeks ago.
Seven bandits were killed during the encounter and the bandits who survived the attack escaped with the corpses of their gang members.
During the retaliatory attack on Jab Jab, the terrorising bandits killed many people and set houses ablaze.
And the residents lamented the absence of security operatives all through the period of the attacks, with one saying: ”As l speak to you, there are no policemen or soldiers in Binnari but we are told that soldiers are on their way to the area.”
He also disclosed that the village head of Binnari and some local guards were killed by bandits early this year.
DSP Usman Abdullahi, Public Relations Officer of Taraba Police Command, confirmed the attack but said officers had been deployed in the area.
“The Police are now on ground and are making effort to restore normally and we have no casualty figure for now,” he said.
There has been increase in insecurity across the country and efforts to contain the trend have not yielded the desired result.
First published in Daily trust