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No fewer than 57 persons were killed in a fresh attack by cattle rustlers on residents of Magarya ward, Kadawa community, Zurmi Local Government Area, Zamfara State between Thursday evening and the early hours of Friday.
According to a resident of the community, the cattle rustlers killed only men with no intention to hurt women and children.
A source, who revealed that no soul was abducted by the invaders, said that they carted away cattle whose number could not be ascertained at the time of filing this report.
After the attack in Kadawa, the rustlers went through a number of villages, including Jinkirawa, rustling cows without killing anyone.
The source added that all the shops within the perimeter of the criminals were looted, leaving only the ones in secluded areas.
“All of us have deserted our communities for fear of another attack. We cannot even bury the dead in our community. We are taking the corpses in security personnel’s vehicles to the emir’s palace in Zurmi,” he said.
The state’s Commissioner of Police has visited the area.
In similar vein, the Zamfara State governor, Bello Muhammad Matawalle, has called on the people of the state not to fold their arms and watch their loved ones killed.
The governor advised the people to find ways to defend themselves and rescinded his earlier directive suspending the activities of the local vigilante group operating in the state because of the escalating cases of banditry.
The governor, who gave the order during prayer at the state Ed ground to mark his second year in office, had on assumption of his administration initiated peace moves which resulted in many disarmament processes.
Governor Matawalle, while giving the directive, said: “We must allow our people to defend themselves and their respective domains whenever these dreaded groups of recalcitrant bandits attempt to attack them.”
