By Ismail Auwal
Residents of Ganar-Kiyawa in Zamfara State have fled the town as bandits killed a traditional ruler and 19 other residents in a fresh attack on Sunday.
The bandits also laid siege to the community cemetery in an attempt to prevent the families of the victims from performing funeral rites on the slain bodies.
The arm bandits were said to have invaded the community on motorcycles shortly after raiding another community where they rustled cattle herds.
A source disclosed that “when they laid the siege, residents scampered to safety after they sensed trouble. But the armed criminals began to chase the fleeing residents on motorbikes shooting at them.”
He noted that the bandits “killed at least 19 people there, including the village head.
“Shortly afterward, the armed men rode and disappeared into bush. After the armed men had left, the surviving residents picked the bodies of the slain residents from different spots inside the surrounding bushes for burials.
“The armed bandits suddenly came back and headed for the cemetery, thinking that the funeral rites had begun, but they saw no one at the cemetery and thereafter zoomed off to forest again.
“The bodies of those killed were later brought to Adabka, the district headquarters located 3 kilometers west of the raided community,” he said.
Bandits had in the past imposed N2 million harvest levy on the Ganar Kiyawa community.
The community had also been affected by a series of deadly attacks.
