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Armed gang kills 48 in Zamfara raid : JTF

Armed gang kills 48 in Zamfara raid : JTF

 

KANO (AFP) – An armed gang has raided a northern Nigerian village and killed 48 people in an apparent reprisal attack targeting a local vigilante group, a state official said Wednesday.
The attack saw gunmen move house to house as well as take positions atop a hill and open fire, the official said. Houses were also burnt, but it was not clear how many.
“There was an attack by armed bandits early Tuesday on Kizara village where 48 residents were killed in apparent targeted killings by cattle rustlers that have been terrorising the state for some time now,” said Ibrahim Birnin-Magaji, commissioner for information in Zamfara state, where the remote village is located.
Dozens of gunmen arrived in the village before dawn on motorbikes, he said
“Some of them climbed up the hill overlooking the village and opened fire indiscriminately,” he said.
“They later moved house to house, telling residents that they were looking for members of local vigilante (groups) whom they said had been disturbing them.”
He said those killed included the local chief, the chief imam and the head of the vigilante group in the village.
“The police from nearby Keta mobilised and engaged the bandits in a shootout, but they were overwhelmed by the gunmen’s superior firepower and were forced to retreat,” said Birnin-Magaji.
Many villages  form local vigilante groups to defend themselves against violent cattle rustlers or other criminal gangs, sometimes leading to a cycle of clashes and reprisal attacks.
Zamfara state has seen a number of such incidents.
There was so far no sign of any link to Islamist extremist group Boko Haram, which has been waging a deadly insurgency mainly in the northeast. The military is currently engaged in an offensive seeking to end Boko Haram’s four-year insurgency.
However, the raid is the latest sign of insecurity in Africa’s most populous nation and largest oil producer, where authorities have been largely unable to stop such violence.
The country includes some 250 ethnic groups and is roughly divided between a mainly Muslim north and predominately Christian south. Illegal weapons are widespread.
While such clashes in central Nigeria tend to involve ethnic tensions, they are more strictly criminal further north, with attackers and victims from the same ethnic group in certain cases.
“This trend of raids by bandits stealing cows and cash from villagers has become a serious menace which should be jointly tackled by the federal and state governments,” said Birnin-Magaji.

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NSCDC warns against patronising employment racketeers

ABUJA—Worried by the spate of illegal websites designed by fraudsters on a daily basis to defraud desperate job seekers, the Commandant General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps Dr. Ade Abolurin warned that henceforth anyone caught, both the giver and taker, will be treated as common criminals in accordance with the existing laws governing fraud and corrupt practices.
According to him, “the corps is not recruiting and has no intention to recruit and even when it’s to recruit, the process is certainly not through the internet and websites. Therefore, all those designing illegal websites for the purpose of recruitment are fraudsters and should desist from such nefarious activities with immediate effect.”
Ignorance, he said is never an excuse in the law court therefore, no matter your level of unemployment, if you allow yourself to be duped, the Corp will not take responsibility for that and will not allow its name to be dragged through the mud.
The Corps has warned sufficiently through the mass media, times without number, that the Corps is not recruiting and its recruitment is not for sale but persons allow themselves to be defrauded by criminals and disgruntled elements in the society whose handiwork is for evil.
The Corps is urging desperate job seekers to beware of this and ensure they ask questions properly from any of the Corps formations whenever they are confronted by these scammers on the issue of recruitment.
The public relations office, servicom and other offices of the Corps are open for confirmation and verification of information in order not to fall victim.

 


 

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