Two gunmen suspected of being bandits were reportedly killed recently by security operatives in Zamfara State, OsunDaily News learnt.
The Commissioner of Police in the state, Kolo Yusuf, confirmed this in a statement issued through the Zamfara State command’s Public Relations Officer, CSP Mohammed Shehu.
Yusuf, who commended the resilience of the joint police and military deployed to neutralise bandit attacks and other criminal elements in the state, called on the public to improve and sustain their partnership with the security agencies to restore lasting peace and security in the state.
The statement dated Sunday, April 9, 2023, reads: “The Commissioner of Police made the commendation, following the feat recorded during a fierce confrontation with suspected bandits in a community under Tsafe LGA, where an attempted banditry attack on the community was repelled and two (2) suspected bandits neutralised while others fled with possible gunshot wounds.”
The police commissioner reassured the public of improved and sustained police commitment in the ongoing campaign against the resurgence of banditry activities in the state.
Yusuf also appealed to residents to collaborate with all the security agencies in the state to continue to succeed in their fights against criminal elements in the state.
Reports emerged last week that bandits abducted no fewer than 60 persons in the Zamfara and Katsina States border communities.
The abductees, who are said to be mostly children, are from Kucheri, Wanzamai, and Danwuro communities in Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara state, and Yankara town in Faskari LGA of Katsina state, OsunDaily News understands.
The abductions were said to have occurred on Friday morning when the bandits were moving from the Sububu forest in Zamfara to a forest in Birnin Gwari LGA of Kaduna state.
A resident of Tsafe, Ahmad Kucheri, said the bandits had suffered casualties from the military and were fleeing from the state, adding that the bandits began abducting people they sighted on their way out of the state.
Channels Television quoted Kucheri as saying that the majority of the victims were abducted from their farms, while some were children who went to fetch firewood in the bush, and local fertilizers in the bush, and some workers in local mining sites
He said: “The bandits were moving from Sububu Forest to Birnin-Gwari side. So, they see people in the bush fetching firewood, they picked them, some children that are picking local fertilizers, some that are doing mining work, they gathered all of them and moved them to Birnin-Gwari side to Niger State.
“They did not shoot or kill anybody, they just gathered people and not only children but anybody they see along their way.”
