SAHARANEWS – Residents of five villages, which include Kerewa, Zareyawa and Marina have taken refuge at two temporary Internally Displaced Persons’ (IDPs) camp following Sunday morning’s attack that claimed at least 51 lives in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
SaharaNews gathered that though the number of displaced persons taking refuge in the camp was not clear, the Councillor for Kerewa Ward, Daiyabu Kerawa told our correspondent that two camps have been opened at Karaukarau and Iyakawa villages, while other victims of the attacks have fled to Kerawa town to live with relatives.
“We cannot estimate the number of people at the camps as at now, but they are there,” he said.
He added that nine persons injured in the attacks are presently receiving treatment at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Shika in Zaria, as over five thousand bags of grains and many houses were destroyed by the bandits during the attacks.
“The Governor came to sympathise with the people of the affected villages, the Executive Secretary, State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) also came and promised to provide relief materials to the victims,” he said.
However, the Kaduna State Police Command on Monday said it was mobilising to comb the forest where the bandits who attacked the villages and killed over 50 people in Igabi Local Government Area of the State were suspected to have emanated from.
Reacting to Sunday’s attack, the Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Mohammed Jalige said the Command has deployed several policemen to the villages and other surrounding areas in order to restore sanity and prevent further attacks.
ASP Jalige, however, did not confirm the exact number of people killed, but only said many people had lost their lives in the attack and stressed that: “We are investigating the matter because we do not want to quote a wrong figure.”
According to the Police spokesperson who returned from the scene of the attacks at the time he spoke with our correspondent: “We are mobilising to see how we can comb the forest. You know recently we entered the forest through the Birnin Gwari axis where we dislodged many bandits. This is the first time that axis of the forest is being attacked.”
Meanwhile, SaharaNews gathered that Governor Nasiru El-Rufai on Monday went on a condolence visit to five communities affected in the attack.
The governor had during the visit stressed that there will be no amnesty for such criminals who perpetrated the killings, saying “We have asked the security agencies to just wipe them out and we will not rest until the bandits are completely wiped out.”
“It is our duty to wipe them until we send them to their maker; the security agencies are taking the war to the forest and we are eliminating them,” he said.
The governor explained that shortly after the bandits attacked the communities, security men had intervened with ground and air force power, saying “They are doing their best but they find it difficult to get to remote areas in good time due to poor access roads, while the natives also find it difficult to get to security agents due to poor GSM network.”