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General News of Monday, 6 March 2023

Source: www.premiumtimesng.com

Terrorists kill DPO, two others in Zamfara

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At least, three people including a Divisional Police Officer (DPO), were killed by terrorists who invaded Maru, a town in Zamfara in an attack on Sunday morning.

The terrorists also abducted several people.

The DPO, Kazeem Raheem, was killed alongside his orderly, Rabiu Bagobiri. The leader of a vigilante group, Shehu Chaku, was also killed by the terrorists.

A local, who asked not to be named for security reasons, said the terrorists invaded the local government headquarters minutes after 1:00 a.m. and blocked the four exits of the premises.

He said they were in the town to abduct a local businessman, who owns a petroleum station.

“What happened was that the bandits followed him (the filling station owner) when he returned from Gusau to Maru. When he reached Maru, he went straight to his house and entered before they (bandits) came.

“When they reached the house and started shooting, he hid but they got his wife. She lied to them that he was not around, but they insisted that he was around. When she stood her ground, the bandits took her away alongside the house security watchman,” he said.

The source said the terrorists mounted roadblocks on all routes to avoid being caught unawares by security agents and vigilante members. He said the operation lasted for over an hour.

Another source, Bello Sani, said the police divisional officer was killed outside the police station while he was waiting for some of his men.

“What I heard this morning is that the bandits divided themselves into groups, so when the DPO came out to confront them, they were some of the bandits outside the police station monitoring police movement. He came from his house to organize a team but when he came out of the police station, the bandits stationed there opened fire and killed the DPO and his orderly,” he said.

He said the Saulawa area where the police station is located, was taken over by the terrorists from 1:00 a.m. to 2:15 a.m., and they shot sporadically to scare residents.

“To the best of my knowledge, only a handful of vigilante members stood against the bandits but even they (vigilantes) withdrew when the superior power of the bandits became obvious. The policemen were also scared after their leader (DPO) was gunned down,” Mr Sani, who lives in the Saulawa area, told PREMIUM TIMES over the phone.

Calls and SMS sent to the police spokesperson, Mohammed Shehu, were not responded to.

Zamfara, like several states in the North-west and central part of the country, has been witnessing a series of terrorist activities leading to the death and displacement of hundreds of thousands of people.