Bandits at the weekend unleashed terror on communities in Sokoto and Zamfara States, gunning down 62 persons.
Thirty seven persons were feared dead and several others injured in the attacks on Raka, Raka Dutse and Filingawa communities in Tangaza Local Government Area of Sokoto State.
This happened two days after President Bola Tinubu, in his maiden meeting with the service chiefs and heads of intelligence agencies at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, demanded a centralised coordination of security architecture and charged them to renew efforts towards ending insecurity.
The latest attacks on the three Sokoto villages, said to be carried out on Saturday evening, were seen as a setback to the relative peace in the state.
Confirming the incident, the immediate past chairman of the local government, Bashar Kalenjeni, said 18 persons were killed at Raka, 17 at filingawa and two at Raka Dutse.
He said several villagers sustained gunshot injuries; while many others were still missing.
He said the assailants disrupted the burial initially planned for Saturday night.
We wanted to bury them in the night, but the bandits came back and dispersed us. As at this (Sunday) morning, the deceased are still there unburied,” Kalenjeni said
He said before the attack, the villagers had refused to pay the levies imposed on their communities by the bandits.
He stated: “The bandits imposed levies on their communities which was meant to take charge with immediate effect, and also dictating to residents on what to and not to do.
But the villagers refused to succumb and because of that, they attacked them, killing 37 persons; while several others sustained various degrees of gunshot injuries and currently receiving treatment at General Hospital, Gwadabawa.
“There are others who are still unaccounted for.
“Right now, we are waiting for security operatives to lead us to the villages in order to bury the dead ones.”
A resident of Gidan Madi, the headquarters of Tangaza local government area, Kabiru Gidan Madi, corroborated Kalenjeni’s account that the attacks followed the refusal of the communities to pay levies to bandits.
