Seven police personnel were killed by suspected bandits along the Tofa-Magami Road in the Gusau Local Government Area of Zamfara State.
A spokesperson of Governor Bello Matawalle, confirmed the incident but did not provide details.
He said the governor had cancelled his schedules in mourning of the fallen police officers.
Special Assistant to Governor Bello Matawalle on new media, Ibrahim Zauma, who confirmed the incident on his official Facebook page, said “the governor had cancelled his scheduled political meeting in commiseration of the death of our gallant MOPOL officers at Kurar Mota frontline base.
“The governor is shocked over the bandits’ incursion which claimed the lives of the police officers. May the souls of those who fell rest in peace.”
A resident of Dangulbi, who also spoke about the killings, but could not confirm how many people died, said: “I heard the gunshots coming from the axis I was heading to, and when some people standing by the roadside asked me to stop, I thought they were among the bandits.”
An indigene of the area, Salisu Sani, said the incident occurred about 6pm, on Monday, when the police personnel went to the area on patrol mission.
“The bandits ambushed the police personnel, killed seven of them, and set their operational vehicle ablaze. I saw their dead bodies being evacuated to Gusau,” he Sani.
The spokesperson of the Yarima Bakura Specialist Hospital, Gusau, Awwal Ruwan-doruwa, confirmed that seven dead bodies of the slain police operatives were brought to the hospital.
However, spokesperson of the state police command, SP Mohammed Shehu, didn’t respond to the calls to his phone at the time of filing the report.
