Gunmen suspected to be bandits on Thursday launched an attack on the Alkaleri Local Government Area of Bauchi State and killed four people. Three others were injured.
Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Mohammed hails from Alkaleri LGA.
The PUNCH, quoting local sources including vigilantes, reported that when the suspected bandits attacked Tudun Wadan Jada formerly known as Jimari Jauro-Bano, to abduct residents, an alarm was raised.
The youths from the village and surrounding villages were said to immediately mobilise themselves and resisted them and they were unable to go with the abducted people.
But the suspected bandits, seeing that their mission had failed, then opened fire on the large number of the youths that resisted them and killed four of them while three sustained varying degrees of injuries.
A resident of the area who preferred anonymity, told journalists, “The attackers arrived in the community around 11:45 pm on Thursday.
“They came on motorcycles and when people raised the alarm they started shooting sporadically and fled to the bush. Unfortunately, four people were killed in the process.”
He said those injured were rushed to an undisclosed hospital in Gombe state which borders Bauchi.
Another source said that men of the Nigeria Police Force and Nigerian Army have visited the communities attacked, where they calmed them down and assured them of the protection of their lives and properties.
Chairman of the LGA, Yusuf Garba, also confirmed the incident to journalists in Bauchi on Friday, saying that the bandits stormed New Tudun Wadan Jada, with the intention of abducting the hamlet head but when people raised alarm, they abandoned their mission and fled.
He said the gunmen attacked the area through the largest border forest with Taraba, Gombe and Plateau States, adding that security operatives are on their trail.
Garba said a security council meeting with the State security chiefs and the Secretary to the State Government has been held to discuss the matter while security operatives have been deployed to the area.
Efforts to get a reaction from the Bauchi State Police Command were unsuccessful as the Public Relations Officer, Ahmed Wakil, a Superintendent of Police, did not answer his call as of the time of filing this report.
