Yet to be identified gunmen have invaded the serene community of Gambar Sabon Layi in Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area (LGA) of Bauchi State, killing the hamlet head of the village as well as four others, and abducting one person.
Sources confirmed that the gunmen came in the early hours of Sunday, shooting sporadically into the air to scare residents away before carrying out their criminal acts.
The source noted that the night marauders kidnapped one Mr Daniel and killed the hamlet head of the area while four others were killed in the process.
Another resident of the area, one Mr Manasseh Danladi, said: “Yesterday (Saturday), some people came to our village and killed my uncle with four others while Mr Daniel was taken away to an unknown destination. We are yet to establish contact with them.”
While confirming the tragic incident, the Bauchi State Police Command stated that a distress call was received by the Command on 22nd January 2022 at about 0345hrs indicating that on the same date at about 0200hrs, some unknown gunmen invaded Gambar Sabon Layi village and attacked innocent residents.
The Command PPRO, SP Ahmed Wakili, said that on receiving the report, detectives of the Command were drafted to the scene led by the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Tafawa Balewa Divisional Police Headquarters and evacuated the victims to the Tafawa Balewa General Hospital for medical treatment.
He added that, unfortunately, four victims were certified dead by the medical doctor while one person sustained various degrees of injury during the attack.
The PPRO added that similarly, one person was confirmed to have been kidnapped to an unknown destination by the assailants.
The Police Spokesperson added that the Commissioner of Police, Aminu Alhassan, has directed that a discreet investigation should commence in earnest to arrest the perpetrators of the dastardly act to face the wrath of the law.
The Commissioner of Police, he added, had recently sustained operations which has recorded tremendous success by denying miscreants a breathing space to carry out their nefarious activities.
He added that operatives attached to the Command acted on credible intelligence and uncovered an armoury of the suspected kidnappers on the 22nd January 2023 while on patrol around the Tudun Wada area of Liman Katagum, Bauchi LGA.
Consequently, an underground armory was uncovered, and the following items were recovered:3 AK47 rifles, 1 LAR rifle, 49 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition, 9 AK47 magazines, 1 pair of army camouflage jacket and 1 pair of Police camouflage trousers.
While commending the operatives, the Commissioner ordered round-the-clock surveillance around the area in a bid to arrest the miscreants.