Writing By Ismai’l Adamu; Editing By Godwin Duru
Bandits have attacked Unguwar Mantau village in Malumfashi Local Government Area of Katsina State where they killed at least 27 persons, injured dozens and abducted about fifteen others.
The bandits who were heavily armed with AK-47 rifles also vandalized houses, business premises and vehicles in the village which is about 17 kilometers from Malumfashi town.
Eyewitnesses told Radio Nigeria that the bandits who invaded the village on motorcycles began the raid from a mosque where they opened fire on worshippers during dawn prayers, killing 16 persons, before they proceeded to the residential area of the village where they killed 11 others.
The eyewitness narrated that most of those abducted were women, including nursing mothers who left behind their infants.
Meanwhile, the Katsina State government has confirmed the attack which it said was a reprisal on the villagers for repelling an earlier attack by the bandits over the weekend.
Briefing Newsmen in Katsina, the state Commissioner for Internal Security, Muazu Danmusa, said people of Unguwar Mantau laid an ambush against the bandits and killed many of them.
“In reprisal, the bandits attacked when the villagers were praying early in the morning around five, they started shooting sporadically in the mosque,” Danmusa said.
While the Katsina State Commissioner for Internal Security said only 13 persons were killed during the attack, residents of Unguwar Mantau in Karfi Ward of Malumfashi, have maintained that they counted 27 dead bodies after the attack.
“We performed the burial of those killed by the bandits, it was 27 bodies that we counted during the burial”, said Inusa Ladan, a resident who participated in the burial of the victims.
Meanwhile, after the attack, residents from Karfi Ward as well as Marabar Kankara, Layin Minista, and many other villages west of Malumfashi blocked the Funtua-Malumfashi road to protest the attack.
The protesters in their hundreds marched about 10km into Malumfashi town to register their grievance over what they called non-responsiveness by security agencies.
The protesters were however dispersed by security agencies after hours of barricade along the Malumfashi-Funtua road.
Police officers who addressed the protesters assured them that the perpetrators would be tracked down and brought to book.
Malumfashi Local Government Area which is the commercial nerve center in southern Katsina, has come under incessant bandit attacks in recent weeks and months.
On Monday last week, bandits attacked Gidan Maijimina village, north of Malumfashi, where they killed three persons and returned two days after and killed one other person and stole cattle.
Last Thursday, bandits attacked Gidan Barau where they killed one resident, abducted five others and stole cattle and goats.
On Sunday, they attacked Gidan Hazo where they vandalized shops and shot two residents who are now receiving treatment at General Hospital, Malumfashi.
Due to the embargo placed by bandits on farming activities in hundreds of communities across central and southern Katsina State, residents have resorted to dialogue with the bandits to allow them to cultivate their farms and engage in commerce.
However, the peace treaty mostly comes at a price, as the villagers are required to pay a ransom to the bandits in exchange for freedom to engage in farming activities.
In Malumfashi Local Government Area, villages that include Gidan Maijimina, Unguwar Gishiri, Gidan Lado, Koro, Zarangozai and Gidan Dandaudu raised the sum of N15 million which they jointly paid to the bandits in July, as ransom to have the freedom to cultivate their farms during the current rainy season.
“We have been left to our fate, we are now at the mercy of the bandits”, said a resident of Gidan Maijimina who pleaded with Radio Nigeria not to name him or use his voice on radio.
“We have two choices, to negotiate with the bandits or to flee”, said Malam Ado Karfi who said his aged father was abducted twice between last year and this year.
“Last year I sold a farm to pay a ransom of N2 million, this year I sold another farm to pay a ransom of N1.5 million, now I have to rent a farm to cultivate my crops this year.
“Neither the state government nor the security agencies will save us, we had to sit down with the bandits and come up a local solution, the only solution was to pay them an agreed amount of money as ransom so that we could cultivate our farms”, he regretted.
Isma’il Adamu
