No fewer than 52 people, including the village head of Kizara and four vigilante men, in the Tsafe Local Government area of Zamfara State have been killed by gunmen who ransacked the village at about 2.00 a.m. on Tuesday.
The hoodlums were said to be over 50 in number.
Daily Independent gathered that the attackers arrived Tsafe town through Birnin Gwari forest in Kaduna State.
The gunmen embarked on house-to-house search, shooting sporadically to scare even the vigilante men in the dead of the night.
After killing several people, it was learned that the gunmen identified the residence of the village head, Alhaji Bello Ibrahim, and brutally murdered him.
A resident of Tsafe town, headquarters of the local government, Sani Sabo, told Daily Independent that because of the confusion caused by the attack, movement to Tsafe area was severely restricted to the extent that even the police officers and other security operatives coming to the village had to pass through some alternative roads from Gusau.
Though the casualty figure is yet to be ascertained as at press time, sources who spoke to Daily Independent on phone confirmed that about 52 people were killed in the attack, apart from others who were injured, including women and children.
When contacted on phone, Tsafe Local Government Council boss, Aliyu Abubakar, confirmed the incident, explaining that he was on his way to Abuja for an official engagement when the news reached him.
According to him, the development has made him to call off the trip and return home to visit the affected village.
Also contacted on phone, Zamfara State Police Commissioner, Akila Usman Gwary, who was on his way to the village confirmed the incident.
But he said he could not specify the number of casualties yet.
He added that based on the security report, he had to pass through Wanke-Magami to Keta to reach the village, and assured journalists that immediately he comes back, he would give the casualty figure.
In a related development, President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday reiterated his call for greater global cooperation and coordination in the war against terrorism.
Speaking at the State House, Abuja, where he separately received letters of credence from the new envoys of Israel, Russia, Greece and Algeria, the President said Nigeria and other countries will benefit immensely from such greater collaboration among their security agencies on efforts to combat domestic and international terrorism.
Jonathan told his guests that Nigeria would welcome increased cooperation from countries that are more experienced in such matters for its ongoing operations against domestic terrorist groups.
Jonathan told the new Israeli Ambassador, Uriel Palti, that he looked forward to visiting Israel later this year to discuss ways of enhancing bilateral cooperation between Nigeria and Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
He also assured the other envoys – Alekos Oikonomopoulos (Greece), Nikolay Udovichenko (Russia), Belkacem Smaili (Algeria) and Amadou Habibou (Senegal) – that the Federal Government will fully support their efforts to strengthen existing cordial relations between Nigeria and their countries.
The new ambassadors all expressed their delight at being posted to Nigeria and promised to do everything possible to strengthen diplomatic and economic ties between their countries and Nigeria.
SOURCE: Daily Inp
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