The death toll from the attack by bandits on some communities in Bakori and Kankara local government areas of Katsina State has risen to 84.
No fewer than 30 members of vigilante group and residents were confirmed killed in an ambush by bandits as an unspecified number were injured in Kankara Local Government Area of the state, on Thursda.
However, residents of the affected communities had on Friday put the number of those killed at 58 and expressed fear that more corpses could be recovered from the area as others were still missing.
The victims were said to have mobilised to the forest in an effort to recover cattle rustled by terrorists who had earlier launched an attack on the community.
Sources said that unknown to the vigilante members and those who accompanied them, the terrorists who came through Bakori, were aware of their presence and they had already laid ambush for them, killing scores of them.
Reports received yesterday indicate that the number of people killed by bandits between the Kankara-Bakori axis in Katsina State has risen to 84.
It was learnt that 26 more dead bodies were recovered on Saturday evening by security operatives and some volunteers after combing the scene of the killings.
An eyewitness said he saw a vehicle at Yargoje junction moving 26 more dead bodies to Bakori communities, but this newspaper could not verify if the corpses were vigilantes, villagers of the bandits’ bodies.
Meanwhile, the Katsina State Government has said it will inaugurate a commission of inquiry to investigate the immediate and remote causes of the killings.
The special adviser to Governor Aminu Bello Masari on security matters, Mr Ibrahim Ahmed-Katsina, who disclosed this Friday night while addressing some journalists at his residence in Katsina, said the government would also assist families of the victims.
Contacted, police spokesman in Katsina, SP Gambo Isah said while some operations were ongoing in the affected areas, he was not in the know of the update.
“As soon as I get the update from our operatives, I will get across to update you, but for the time being, operation is ongoing in the area and we don’t have that update,” he said
