No fewer than 11 people were reported killed after two communities of Yagbak and Abuyab all in Atyap Chiefdom in Zangon Kataf local government area of Kaduna state, North West Nigeria were on Thursday attacked by heavily armed terrorists suspected to be Fulani herdsmen militias.
The attackers invaded the communities at about 7pm local time and began shooting sporadically from different directions as the villagers scamper for safety, a source in the community told Middle Belt Times via telephone.
A survivor from Abuyab who gave her name as Mrs Bamaiyi told MBT that the terrorists came fully prepared to inflict maximum damage on their community having attacked the community twice previously.
“They came heavily armed, we were just about rounding up having dinner for the day when they showed up and started to shoot anyhow.
“Thursday’s attack was the third we have had in recent times. They burnt down the remaining houses we were managing after the previous attacks.
“10 people were killed in our own community while one was also killed in Yagbak. Several houses were also burnt there. As I speak to you now we are at an IDP camp in Zonkwa” Bamaiyi said
Another traumatized eyewitness who gave her name as Rose said the attack threw the women and children into great fear due to the sound of sporadic gunshots.
“We all thought we were going to die, the gunshots were unusual, and the sounds were so loud that we could feel it right in our stomach.
“It was a survival of the fittest, we ran for several hours just to get to safety.” She said.
The latest attack is coming barely one month after 38 people including women and children were slaughtered in Madamai and Abun communities in neighboring Kaura local government area of the state.
The Kaduna state government had shutdown telecommunication networks in parts of the state, a decision she said was to enable security forces flush out terrorist elements operating in the state. This has turned out different as terrorists still launch coordinated attacks on communities with little or no resistance from security forces.
Journalist Luka Binniyat, the Spokesman of the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU) was on Thursday arrested by the police on the order of Samuel Aruwan, the state commissioner of security and internal affairs over allegations of a publication written by Binniyat which didn’t go down well with the government. The publication titled “In Nigeria, Police Decry Massacre as ‘wicked’ but make no arrest” was detailed and gave accounts of hoe 38 were killed in Madamai. In the report the senator representing Southern Kaduna was interviewed, so also the Police spokesman in the state.
