23 killed in Zamfara •As police declare gov’s CSO missing

Posted by admin Headlines, State News, Zamfara Monday, October 3rd, 2011

TWENTY-THREE persons were reported to have died on Sunday, when suspected gunmen, numbering about 70, stormed the small village of Ligyado in Daraga District in Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State.

The attack came barely two months after a similar attack took place in Guru and Tungar villages in Dansadau district in the same local government area.

Findings by the Nigerian Tribune revealed that the recent onslaught took place at 5.00 a.m. on Sunday, when the suspected hoodlums stormed the village with offensive weapons like AK47 rifles, daggers, machetes and sticks.

A source disclosed that the armed robbers went from one house to another, killing and maiming people at will, pointing out that most of those that were killed included women and children.

According to a source, the attack could not be unconnected with the fact that the villagers were alleged to have supported their vigilance group to flush out suspected armed robbers in the village.

“About 70 hoodlums stormed the small village pretending to be visitors while they shot at any person that came to receive them.”

At the time of filing this report, some of the corpses of the deceased had been deposited at the Federal Medical Centre, Gusau, while the relations of the victims and sympathisers kept on trooping to the mortuary.

When contacted, the Zamfara State Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Sanusi Amiru, confirmed the incident but was quick to add that security had been beefed up in the troubled area.

Meanwhile, the Zamfara State police command has declared Superintendent Ibrahim Bamuche, Chief Security Officer to the state governor, Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari, missing.

Speaking with newsmen in Gusau, the new Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Tambari Yabo, dispelled the rumour doing the rounds that the police officer had been killed.

According to him, the police officer was supposed to attend a senior police officers course in Jos, capital of Plateau State about a month ago, but his vehicle was found while his whereabouts remained unknown. He added that the vehicle was found beside three graves.

He said when his command was informed about the incident, the Plateau State command was contacted and informed about the development.

Yabo disclosed that the Plateau State police commissioner directed that the bodies in the three graves be exhumed but the identity of the police officer did not tally with any of the three bodies.

Commenting further, the police boss maintained that as far as the command was concerned, the case of the Superintendent of police was a case of a missing person, stressing that, “we cannot say at this stage that he was killed until investigation over his disappearance is completed.”

In a related development, the commissioner of police also announced the dismissal of a police inspector, Abdullahi Ibrahim, who was found guilty of raping a 15-year-old girl in Maradun town in Maradun Local Government Area of the state.

He said the accused would soon be handed over for prosecution.

Meanwhile, it was learnt that Ligyado village has been deserted for fear of possible further attacks.

-Tribunewp_posts