Terrorists have attacked Danumaru village in Kebbi State, killing 40 persons, including six security operatives.

They also killed three locals in a similar attack on a community in Zamfara State at the weekend.

The terrorists, according to a report by the BBC Hausa Service monitored in Kaduna, yesterday, operated for hours in the village, blocked exit points and made it difficult for people to escape.

The killers reportedly looted goods and rustled livestock belonging to the locals.

After causing havoc in Danumaru village, they reportedly moved to neighbouring villages where they also caused mayhem and razed houses.

The Guardian gathered that over 20 bodies recovered after the attack in Kebbi had been buried.

A vigilante group member in Danumaru, who preferred anonymity, said they spent over three hours exchanging gunfire with the terrorists, who stormed the village on Sunday morning.

“The trigger-happy terrorists came and killed about 16 locals here. They also abducted some people. I saw about 16 corpses in Danumaru village alone. In another location called Ramuna, they killed seven, and five locals were killed in Danburku.

“I was in Danumaru village during the attack. Security operatives were informed. They met the bandits at Ramuna and engaged them in a fierce combat,” he said.

Another resident of Danumaru explained that there was mass exodus from the village.

“Today, we have buried at least 37 bodies, apart from the six police operatives that were killed,” he told The Guardian yesterday.

He said although there was reinforcement of security operatives from Bena community, the terrorists still laid siege to Danumaru.

According to him, the bandits killed those coming back from the farms and those moving out of the village.

Spokesperson of Kebbi State Police Command was not able to respond to enquiry on the attack.Terrorists also killed a young businessman and others in Shinkafi town of Zamfara State.

A local lamented that they had been facing insecurity in the area, despite the presence of operatives.

Meanwhile, Southern Kaduna indigenes, under the aegis of Atyap Community Development Association (ACDA), have blamed the military over the persistent attacks by the armed Fulani militias in Zangon Kataf, while condemning reports indicting monarchs and community leaders in the area.

Members of the association said, at a press briefing, yesterday: “It is with regret that we are addressing Nigerians and the international community on the persistent and recurring attacks and killings in some communities of Atyap land of Zangon Kataf Local Council, Kaduna State, by armed Fulani herdsmen, who have enjoyed decades of peaceful coexistence with our communities, but have now set out on a mission to displace these communities and take over the lands.”

The Chairman of ACDA, Samuel Achi, told journalists: “It is regrettable to state, for the records, that defenceless communities in Atyap have been suffering selective killings since 2017 before the sustained attacks by armed Fulani herdsmen in 2020.

“The military personnel drafted to provide security in the area are not helping matters. Instead of performing their primary assignment of securing life and property, they side the herdsmen. This is evident in the 2023 First Quarter Security Report presented to the Kaduna State Government by the Sector Commander, Operation Safe Haven (OPSH) in Southern Kaduna, Brig-Gen. Timothy Opurum, on the recent killings in Atyap land.”

According to him, the sector commander gave a lopsided report and was very economical with facts, which prompted the governor to pronounce the traditional and community leaders in Zangon Kataf as failures, for nor preventing the youths from resorting to self-help.

Faulting the report presented to government by the army commander, Achi said: “Brig-Gen. Opurum deliberately failed, neglected and/or refused to highlight the contributions of the Traditional Council in Atyap land towards maintaining peace in the chiefdom, which facts are known to him and other security agencies in the area.

“The report did not convey the positive role played so far by the Traditional Council and other community leaders in dissipating the conflicts.”

They, however, called on Atyap people to exercise their “natural, fundamental and constitutional right of self-defence” against any further unprovoked attacks.

The added: “Enough is enough. We also want to make it very clear that, henceforth, any attack on any of our communities will attract a total no go area for rearing cows.” (Guardian)

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