Ten people were killed and several others injured when terrorists attacked a convoy of vehicles on Magami – Gusau road in Zamfara State on Saturday.
Several passengers were also abducted while the terrorists burned three vehicles in the convoy.
The attack occurred around 3:00 p.m. at Dogon Tsauni, while a convoy of several vehicles was moving from Magami to the state capital, Gusau.
PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the wounded vigilante and other passengers have been rushed to the Federal Medical Centre in Gusau. The bodies of those killed in the attack have been deposited at the centre’s mortuary.
“We took ten corpses into the mortuary yesterday (Saturday). Five of them were vigilantes. The level of injuries suffered by some of the people brought into the hospital is sickening,” a nurse at the hospital told PREMIUM TIMES. He asked for anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the press.
He said some of the wounded had bullet wounds with bruises while others were trampled on in the commotion.
A local source from Dansadau who asked not to be named for safety reasons said most of those involved were from his community.
“The vigilante group members were providing security to the vehicles when the terrorists ambushed them around Dogon Tsauni. They started firing shots thereby forcing the drivers to stop. The vigilantes were in the vehicles too and so far, five of them (vigilante) and five passengers have been confirmed dead but they could be several others because we’re yet to get to the place to look for more dead bodies,” he said.
The source said one of the vehicles burnt, a truck, was carrying about 100 bags of soybeans to the state capital.
The police spokesperson in the state, Yazeed Abubakar, didn’t respond to calls and SMS sent to him by this reporter for more details about the attack.
Magami is 53 kilometres from Gusau but due to the security challenges confronting the state, vehicular movements have become minimal. The highway, which also links the state capital with Dansadau, has become notorious for recording terrorist activities.
Soldiers and vigilantes usually escort vehicles convoys from the two main towns in the area, Magami and Dansadau, to Gusau and other major towns in the state.
Zamfara State and other North-west, especially Sokoto and Katsina, are witnessing an upsurge in terrorist attacks.
Twenty-five students of the Federal University of Gusau were abducted about two weeks ago. In Katsina State, five students of Federal University Dutsin Ma were also abducted less than a week ago while terrorists launched a three-day consecutive attack on separate villages in Binji Local Government of Sokoto State.
