By John Ikani
Gunmen suspected to be bandits on Tuesday, December 7, burnt scores of passengers traveling from Sabon Birni Local Government Area to Sokoto town.
The incident which occurred at about 9am in the morning, happened around Gidan Bawa village where the terrorists always referred to as bandits blocked the road and set the vehicle ablaze.
The passengers described as seasonal migrants were said to be on their way to Gadan Gayan in Kaduna en-route to Southern part of the country in search of livelihood.
The vehicle, which they hired for the journey, was ambushed by the bandits who opened fire on them.
“The bandits shot at the tyres of the vehicle, it somersaulted and burst into flame,” a source said.
The bandits were said to have surrounded the vehicle while on fire to ensure none of the passengers survived the tragedy.
The Sokoto State Police spokesperson, ASP Sanusi Abubakar, confirmed the incident, noting that those killed might be about 17.
He explained that the vehicle carried 24 passengers, out of which 7 were admitted to an undisclosed hospital.
Sanusi who responded to a text message sent to him on the development said, “The vehicle is carrying 24 passengers out of which 7 victims were admitted and an unidentified number of burnt dead bodies”.
Sources from Sabon Birni LGA however insisted that the number of those burnt in the vehicle could be higher than what the police confirmed, as a particular family lost ten members to the incident.
What you should know
Sokoto is one of the worst-affected by the activities of armed gangs who have terrorised rural areas and killed thousands of people and abducted more over the past couple of years.
Nearly 50 villagers were massacred in two local government areas of the state last month, an incident Governor Aminu Tambuwal called ‘upsetting’.
At least 11,500 people were forced to flee from Sokoto to neighbouring Niger Republic in November due to terror attacks on their communities, according to the UNHCR.
“Women and children make up the majority of the recent arrivals and describe killings, kidnappings for ransom, and the looting of their villages,” UNHCR spokesperson, Boris Cheshirkov, said at a press briefing last week.
They took shelter in 26 villages across Bangui, located in Niger’s Tahoua region which already received 3,500 Nigerian refugees since September.
