Gunmen suspected to be bandits stormed Kaura Namoda town in Zamfara State in the early hours of Saturday, killing seven vigilantes and kidnapping 38 residents.
Naija News reports that the residents said the attackers held the town for more than three hours, moving through the Kofar Zurmi and Old Market areas before retreating.
The bandits reportedly sneaked into the town along a river path, avoiding the defence positions set up by local vigilantes.
According to Leadership, a resident, Bello Lauwali, said the vigilantes built clay barriers on the outskirts of the community, where some kept guard until around 3 am and fired warning shots from time to time to ward off attackers.
He said the gunmen sealed off routes into the area while exchanging fire with members of the civilian Joint Task Force (JTF) for a long period, which prevented other security operatives from coming to the rescue for fear of falling into an ambush.
Confirming the attack, the Chairman of Kaura Namoda Local Government Area, Munnir Haidara, said seven members of the civilian JTF lost their lives.
He noted that the council had engaged and armed residents under the outfit to protect their communities, adding that some injured members were receiving treatment.
Haidara said efforts were ongoing to ascertain the number of residents taken away by the attackers.
“We don’t have the actual number of people abducted during yesterday’s attack. We are still gathering data, but we hope to get the exact figure between now and this evening,” he said.
Some residents, however, blamed the attack on the absence of security personnel, who they claimed were taken to Kaduna for the launch of President Bola Tinubu’s re-election campaign.
One of them, Zayyanu Usman, said, “Almost all the security agencies, including the vigilantes, were transported to Kaduna for the campaign. Those left behind were mostly young boys and the bandits took advantage to attack the town.”
But the council chairman denied the allegation, saying only party loyalists and stakeholders travelled to Kaduna.
He said he personally oversaw the arrangement for the 10 vehicles that conveyed the delegation.
“I am the chairman of the local government and I was the one who assigned the people transported in the 10 vehicles given to us to attend the campaign launch of President Tinubu. Everybody taken to Kaduna was a frontline political supporter. We did not take any security personnel,” Haidara said.
He argued that it would be irresponsible to withdraw the town’s protectors for a political event.
“We cannot take security personnel to a campaign launch when those people are responsible for protecting residents. If we take all of them away, do you expect us to leave the people without security?” he asked.
A local hunter, who identified himself simply as Dutse, claimed that about 15 of the attackers were killed in the encounter. He, however, said the bandits evacuated the bodies of their dead colleagues as they withdrew.
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