Bandits have ambushed a vehicle escorting travellers in Zamfara and in the process killed one policeman.

The incident occurred on Monday when the vehicle was coming from Dansadau community to Gusau with the passengers inside.

A resident of the community, Nuhu Dansadau expressed concern about the situation saying that armoured vehicles have been the only source of protection for travellers in the last few weeks between the two major towns.

He called on the government to take all necessary steps to curtail the activities of bandits in the area.

Efforts to reach the state police command was not successful as the Public Relations Officer was not responding to several phone calls put across to him.

Dansadau is about 99 kilometers from the Zamfara state capital, Gusau.

Schools in Zamfara have been targets of attacks by bandits.

In recent times, Zamfara State has not been spared by bandits’ attack.

A few days ago, gunmen suspected to be bandits attacked the village of the Zamfara State House of Assembly Speaker Nasiru Magarya and kidnapped his father.

An eyewitness told Channels Television that the gunmen invaded the Magarya community in Zurmi Local Government Area of the state on Thursday.

They also abducted the lawmaker’s stepmother, and four other persons in the community.

The bandits were said to be on motorcycles and started shooting sporadically to scare people away and allow them carry out their operation.

Mass abductions of schoolchildren in the northwestern state have also made headlines.

Governor Bello Matawalle who admitted the increasing spate of crime in the state, blamed past governments for their inability to resolve the lingering crisis between herders and farmers.

“In recent weeks, the act of banditry has reverted to the ugly dimensions it had prior to the coming of my administration,” he said in a special broadcast on Democracy Day after bandits attacked Kadawa village, Zurmi Local Government Area, killing at least 70.

“The marauders kill without regard for any rules of sanity. Women, the elderly, and children are not spared. As a result, a large number of people have been displaced in nearly every town in the State.” (Channels TV)

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