More people may have died in weekend’s attack on Yargaladima village in Dansadau Emirate of Zamfara State.
No fewer than 200 –not 70 as earlier thought- died, it was learnt yesterday.
The Emir put the figure at 105.
The village was invaded by suspected Fulani herdsmen who shot at everybody in sight during a four-hour operation.
The attack on Yargaladima in Maru Local Government on Saturday followed a similar one on Burni-Tsaba and Manitsaba communities in Zumi Local Government, last week.
The attack occurred at about 2pm when the hoodlums, riding on over 100 motorcycles and carrying various guns, including AK 47 rifles, stormed a meeting of a vigilance group and professionals planning how to confront insurgents.
Police spokesman Lawal Abdullahi said the organisers of such a meeting ought to have informed him to provide security.
A survivor of the attack, Mallam Muhamadu Yargaladima, said: “Between yesterday (Saturday) and today, we counted no fewer than 215 bodies.”
He added: “Using AK 47 and other rifles, they began to shoot at children, traders, vigilante, community leaders, clerics, thereby killing 215 people at the end of the four-hour operation.”
But the Emir of Dansadao, Alhaji Hussein Adamu, said his emirate counted 105 bodies.
He told Zamfara State Governor Abdulaziz Yari, who visited the community yesterday to access the situation, that the killings were the worst in the emirate since 2010.
Yari vowed to fish out the killers.
He said the government would find out why the meeting that was not permitted by the authorities was held.
“We will find out who insisted that the meeting must hold,” he declared.
Assistant Inspector General of police (AIG) (Zone 10)Mamman sule said the meeting was not permitted by the police.
He said 79 people were killed.
No fewer than 25 people including politicians on their way to Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, to attend the APC stakeholders meeting/congresses, were at the weekend killed by suspected Boko Haram terrorists along the Maiduguri- Biu road.
“Eighteen delegates on their way to attend a second stakeholders meeting slated on Sunday were ambushed in the bus they were travelling and killed.
No fewer than seven motorists and passengers were shot dead a few metres from Gwargube village.
A member of Civilian JTF said: “Some terrorists yesterday laid ambush to some motorists and passengers along the Maiduguri- Biu road and killed many people, before they invaded Gwargube village and solicited support from the villagers or risk deadly attacks. When they invaded the village after the road ambush, they did not attack or kill anybody. They warned them to cooperate with them or risk their lives”. He stated.
Police commissioner Lawal Tanko said he was not aware of the attack.
Residents are leaving Buni Gari, the Yobe State town where Boko Haram fighters struck on Saturday, in droves.
Eyewitnesses said 17 people were killed in the attack, but the official casualty stands at nine dead and 10 injured.
A resident, Ali Buni, told our correspondent: “If you were here yesterday, you would have seen people moving out of the town as if it’s water. Many people have left and more are leaving for fear of another attack.”
Our correspondent who was in Buni Gari sighted many people moving towards Damaturu, the state capital, with their families.
But, only five people were killed in the mosque attack contrary to the 20 that was earlier reported in the media.
One of the worshippers who do not want his name mentioned said he had left the mosque less than five minutes when the boys struck.”I left five people in the mosque praying and all of them were killed. The boys came less than five minutes after I left the mosque. I had finished my prayers and I wanted to go and prepare for a journey to Damaturu”, he said.
An official of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) said 52 vehicles and 10 keke NAPEP were burnt by the insurgents.
Some of the shops stocked with grains were still burning at the time this reporter visited.
The state government has promised to assist victims of the attack.
Deputy Governor Abubakar Aliyu, who cut short his official engagement to Kaduna yesterday, visited Buni Gari to sympathise with the people and do an on-the-spot assessment of the situation.
Aliyu, an engineer, extended to the people the concern of Governor Ibrahim Gaidam, who is in the Holy Land, praying for the state and the country.
He directed the State Emergency Relief Agency to take a comprehensive stock of the destruction for the government to assist the victims.
Aliyu regretted that the government does not know the insurgents and so it’s difficult to talk with them”.
He, however, prayed that Allah should touch their hearts to repent from their sinful ways, adding that “the trying times of the state and the country would surely be over”.
The executive Secretary of the State Emergency Relief Agency, Musa Idris told reporters that two trucks load of assorted food items and other relief materials have been distributed to the victims.
But some of the victims have complained that only two hilux vans of relief materials were brought and were grossly inadequate.
