Bandits kill policeman, set police station ablaze in Zamfara

Armed bandits have attacked Zurmi local government Area in Zamfara, setting a divisional police station ablaze during the attack.

Divisional Crime Officer (DCO) in the state was also allegedly killed during the incident in the area.

The armed bandits who were in large numbers invaded Zurmi town, the local government headquarters of Zurmi on Sunday evening with sophisticated weapons.

A source who is an indigene of the area, Mohammed Hamza while speaking on phone disclosed that the bandits who were in large numbers arrived in the area around 5 pm on Sunday evening and started shooting indiscriminately with their sophisticated weapons.

“Immediately the bandits arrived Zurmi town, they went straight to the police station where they began to shoot sporadically, which lead in the alleged death of DCO with Other policemen wounded, they later burnt down the police station”.

According to Ibrahim, the bandits attacked the police station following the killing of three of their men by the vigilante group in the area.

“The vigilante group went to the forest and attacked the bandits’ camp where they killed three of them and captured one”.

“We learned that the vigilante had later killed the bandit they captured in the forest.

“We believed the attack was a reprisal attack, the bandits mobilized themselves in large number and headed to the police station in Zurmi, thinking that, their kinsman who was arrested by the vigilante group and the police was in the police cell in the area”.

When Nigerian Tribune contacted him for confirmation, the Zamfara state police command spokesperson ASP Yazid Abubakar could not be reached as several calls were made but the line was not accessible.