Fresh Attack in Kaduna as Gunmen strike again kill 15, set over 20 houses ablaze

No fewer than 15 people have been reported killed in Ambe-Madaki Village in Songa local gov­ernment area of Kaduna State in a fresh attack by suspected Fulani herds­men.

The incident which was said to have occurred about 4:00am yesterday, hap­pened barely one week af­ter 10 people were killed in Tattaura village in the same locality allegedly by the herdsmen.

Although the spokesman of the Kaduna State Police Command, ASP Aminu La­wan did not pick his tele­phone for comments at the time of filling this report, a security source in Songa who said he was not autho­rised to speak to journalists confirmed the incident.

The security source said if the actual figure of the people that were killed was to be giv­en, they could be more than 15, adding however that he was not in the position to con­firm the actual casualty figure.

Also, the State Commis­sioner of Police, Shehu Umar did not pick his phone call to comment on the incident at the time of filling this report

However, a resident of the area, Mr. Yohanna Ad­amu who narrated how the incident took place in a tele­phone chat, said the herds­men who were armed with sophisticated guns arrived the village and started shoot­ing sporadically and setting houses ablaze in the process.

Adamu said many other people sustained injuries from gun shots while over 20 houses were set ablaze.

He added that the incident sparked off mass protest by people of the various com­munities in the area who marched to Gwantu, the headquarters of Songa local government to register their displeasure over the attacks in spite of the peace agree­ment signed with the Fulanis never to attack again.

According to him, the pro­test almost turned a religious crisis, adding that the prompt intervention of the special military task force on secu­rity averted the situation.

“We are surprised that de­spite the agreement that our communities entered with the Fulanis not to attack each other, they have been attack­ing us.

“They came to our vil­lage at about 4:00am today (Friday), armed with sophis­ticated weapons and started shooting and burning houses.

“We have not compile the casualty figure yet because some people are still miss­ing, but we have 15 corpses of people who were killed.

“This is the second time they are attacking us after we signed the agreement to live in peace. Last week, they at­tacked Tattaura village and killed 10 people.

“The people of the com­munities are very angry over these killings so they matched to Gwantu to pro­test, but the protest almost led to religious crisis. It was the intervention of the secu­rity personnel that saved the situation” Adamu said.

He further stated that be­cause of the growing uncer­tainty over the security of the area, the villagers have started relocating to neigh­bouring villages for safety.

Adamu called on the au­thorities concerned to ad­dress the security situation in Sanga local government area before the situation gets out of hand.