Gunmen kill 13 family members in Kaduna

About 13 family members have been reportedly killed by bandits in a recent attack on Bakali village of Giwa Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

A survivor of the attack, Sani Bakali, disclosed that 11 members of his family comprising eight children and three children were killed during the attack.

He said the bandits stormed the community around 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday and operated for two hours on several motorcycles brandishing AK-47 rifles.

“Immediately they came, they started moving around the village, shooting sporadically. In the process, they came to our house, set it ablaze with 11 people inside.

“All 11 people are members of my family. They are three women and eight children, who were wives and children of my three younger brothers. They also killed two of my uncles.

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“While along the bush path we discovered four other corpses burnt to death. They equally killed two imams, one of my neighbours and a close friend of mine.

“We just performed the funeral prayer for the 21 victims on Wednesday. We had buried 20 corpses before we later discovered one more corpse inside the bush and we buried him too.

“Right now, people have fled the village. I am the only one left in the village now because I have come to pick something. I just took my brother and his two wives to Zaria. I am about leaving now myself.

“Apart from the people killed, there are nine people we have not seen since the incident. As it is now, we don’t know whether they have been killed or not,” Bakali said.

When contacted, the Kaduna State police command’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP Muhammad Jalige, confirmed the attack, saying “we have sent a team of police officers and men there to ascertain the situation of things. We are going to get across to you as soon as we have the details,” he said.