Bandits kill two, abduct 29 in Katsina

Two residents were killed while 29 others were abducted when bandits attacked Dan Alhaji and Yandaka villages in Batsari Local Government Area of Katsina State on Tuesday.

Sources disclosed that the bandits carried out the attacks simultaneously.

Details surrounding the incident were still sketchy as of Thursday.

However, it was learnt that the bandits stormed the villages at the same time, despite the long distances between the communities.

Residents said the intervention of security operatives limited the duration of the operation by the bandits as they stormed the communities in large numbers.

The residents further revealed that some victims were able to escape from the bandits while being forcefully taken away in the forest.

The spokesman for the Katsina State Police Command, ASP Abubakar Aliyu, confirmed the incident.

The spokesman said, “The two incidents occurred simultaneously at Dan Alhaji and at Yandaka. Two people were killed in the attack while we have it on record that 29 victims were abducted.

“Our operatives are already there and we are on top of the situation.”

Several communities around the country have been plagued with attacks by bandits.

In a related incident, suspected Fulani bandits again attacked the Abagana community opposite the Internally Displaced Persons camp located along Makurdi/Laafia road in Benue State on Thursday, January 20.

The attack came barely two years after the community witnessed an invasion in which seven people were murdered.

No fewer than 30 persons were also killed in Plateau State in the early hours of Wednesday, January 24, by gunmen who attacked Kwahaslalek village, Mangu Local Government Area of the state.

The state is yet to recover from the Christmas Eve attacks on communities in three local government areas of the state.