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No fewer than 40 villagers, including six police operatives have been killed by terrorists, locally dubbed as bandits, in Kebbi and Zamfara states during a vicious midnight attack on Sunday.
It was learnt that the gunmen operated for hours in the villages, where they blocked exit points and made it difficult for people to escape.
The terrorists were said to have also looted, rustled livestock belonging to the helpless locals, in a siege in which the six police operatives were reportedly killed.
After causing havoc in Danumaru village, the terrorists moved to neighbouring villages where they also caused mayhem and razed down houses.
According to a source, over 20 were buried in Kebbi, while three locals were killed in a similar terrorists attack on a community in Zamfara state at the weekend.
A member of the vigilante group in Damumaru, said they spent over three hours exchanging gunshots with the terrorists, who stormed the village on Sunday morning, adding that the terrorists shot sporadically killing helpless villagers and rustled their cattle.
“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 clashed at a place called Ramuna and were engaged in a fierce combat,” he said.
Another resident of Danumaru explained that there was a mass exodus of people from the village which had been engulfed with fear and confusion.
“Today, we’ve buried at least 37 bodies apart from the six police operatives that were killed,” he alleged.
He said although there was reinforcement of security operatives from Bena community, the terrorists laid siege on Danumaru village where those casualty figures were gotten.
“If you were coming back from the farm, they killed you. If you were moving out of the village, they killed you.
“I hid under the bed in my room. People are now moving out of the village, going to Bena because the entire villagers were afraid.
“Over 30 villages were sacked, the people have all relocated to Bena,” the resident who survived the onslaught said.