The police in Katsina State have killed eight bandits in Batsari Local Government Area of Katsina State.

In a statement issued by the Police Public Relations Officer, Gambo Isah on Saturday, personnel of the Force swooped on the bandits after receiving information on their activities in the area.

According to him, the hoodlums numbering over 40 attacked Zamfarawa village, killed two persons – one Shafi’i Suleiman and Yakubu Idris and rustled an unspecified number of cows.

While one of the bandits died on the spot, the other seven were said to have been killed from gunshot wounds during the exchanged of fire between the police and the hoodlums.

“The team succeeded and recovered thirty cows stolen from the village by the bandits. Subsequently, on 7/08/2020 search parties led by the DPO and members of the community led by the village head of Zamfarawa recovered additional seven more corpses of the bandits at Barankada village, Batsari LGA of Katsina State,” Isah said.

The police spokesman said items recovered from the dead bodies and the scene respectively during search include, 13 empty shells and two live ammunition of 7.62mm, charms, keys, a pair of slippers and N22,300.

Meanwhile, the state government has commended the efforts of the military and other security forces in the restoration of gradual peace in the front line LGAs worse affected.

Speaking during a press conference today, the Special Advisor to Governor Aminu Masari on Security, Ibrahim Ahmad, said the government is optimistic that banditry will soon be a thing of the past in the state.

“As you can observe, in spite of the pockets of challenges to the security operations, most of the affected communities have gradually gone back to farms and going about their normal activities.

“They are very few. They should not be allowed to hibernate and disturb our peace and security,” Ahmad said.

He, however, asked the people of the state to continue to volunteer information to security agencies so that all criminals are defeated collectively.

This comes three days after the state governor; Aminu Masari had a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

The meeting comes amid the security challenges, especially banditry, in the state and the entire North West.

Also, the Nigeria Army launched another military operation codenamed, Operation Sahel Sanity, to tackle banditry and other crimes in Katsina, Kaduna, Zamfara, Sokoto and Niger states.

The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai who flagged off the military operation in Faskari on July 7 said the exercise, as well as other ongoing military operations, were meant to comprehensively tackle banditry and other crimes in the North-West and parts of North-Central to restore peace in the affected states and in Nigeria.

He noted that the Army will be conducting the operation with the support of other sister security agencies, including the police, the Department of State Services and the authorities of the affected states. (Channels TV)

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