At least 49 persons have been killed by terrorists, locally dubbed as bandits during a five day-long operation in Zamfara State.
Residents confirmed that the deceased were killed in five affected villages in the Anka Local Government Area (LGA) of Zamfara State from Tuesday to Saturday.
Daily Trust reports that 18 persons were killed in Farar-Kasa village; 22 in Dangulbi, two in Duhuwa, four in Tsatsomawa and three others in Yar Sabaya villages respectively.
A resident of Anka town, Malam Idris Anka (not real name) said the terrorists had been attacking communities in the Local Government since the beginning of this week.
According to the resident: “Banditry has become a daily affair in this part of Zamfara State. To be honest with you, we are tired of this menace. The bandits are operating as if we do not have a government in this country. These people are almost everything in our communities; they are the police, the traditional rulers and the community leaders.
“They can attack any community at will, place levy on any community they so wish and abduct anybody in any community and nobody has the right to say no whatever directives they give.”
Another resident, who did not want to be named, said he narrowly escaped the bandits along Anka-Bagega road today (Saturday), saying “two bandits in military uniform erected an illegal check-point along the road today (yesterday) robbing road users.”
Mallam Bello Muhammad, a commercial driver, appealed to both the federal and state governments to come to their aid by providing enough security personnel to the area, as according to him non-presence of security is aiding banditry in the local government.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Zamfara State Command, ASP Yazid Abubakar promised to contact the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Anka Division for details; however, he neither called back nor answered several calls put to him.
Meanwhile, the Zamfara State government has rejected an alleged move by the federal government for a peace pact with bandits in the State.