Barely four days after suspected Fulani herdsmen struck in Benue State killing 37, three villages in Kaduna State, yesterday, suffered another attack, allegedly by Fulani herdsmen in which about 200 were feared dead.
The attacked villages in Kaura Local Government Area of Kaduna State were reportedly razed.
The fresh attack came just as explosions rocked Maiduguri, Borno State capital, the scene of Friday’s assault by insurgents that claimed scores of lives, yesterday.
Also, yesterday, Tse Ortom – Adorogo in Guma Local Government Area of Benue State, home town of the Minister of State for Trade and Investment and Supervising Minister of Aviation, Dr Samuel Ortom, was reportedly sacked by suspected Fulani herdsmen.
‘Firing into homes’
The Kaduna villages in which about 200 were reportedly killed were identified as Sankwai, Tekum and Unguwarr Gata inhabited by native Moroa people in Manchok chiefdom, about 250km south of Kaduna metropolis, the capital of Kaduna State.
Kaduna State police spokesman, DSP Aminu Lawan, who confirmed the attack, said he could not ascertain the casualty figure, saying detectives had been sent to the affected villages to verify the situation of things.
According to Gideon Bughu, 45, from Sankwai village, some gunmen first came on Friday night and attacked the village. He said the gunmen numbered over 50. Some gunmen, he stated, later came, yesterday, around 4am, and attacked the other villages.
“They fired into homes”, he told Sunday Vanguard on phone. “As women and children scampered to escape, they were shot and later cut with machetes. They they set our homes on fire. If you stayed inside, you were burnt. If you run out, they shoot at you. The men stayed inside, so most of those burnt were men. But the villagers managed to kill some of the Fulani men, some of whom wore army uniform”, he said.
“I escaped but I have bullet wounds as I speak. I am at an hospital somewhere in Jos.
“I am told that about 45 people in my village were burnt. And 30 shot and cut with machetes.”
Investigation by Sunday Vanguard showed that similar attacks were carried out in Tekum and Unguwar Gata. In Unguwar Gata, sources put deaths figure at between 75 and 80 while, in Tekum, those who died were said to be between 60 and 70 with scores injured.
“There is not one house standing in Tekum and Ungwan Gata now”, a source said. It was gathered that corpses littered the bush in the villages while smoke could be seen billowing into the air there at the time of this report.
Kaduna State police spokesman, Lawan, in a telephone chat, said: “I have been briefed by the District Police Officer in Manchok that three villages in that axis were attacked with a number of casualtiy and some homes burnt. But I cannot tell you the number of casualty now. We have sent detectives to the place to ascertain what happenned. We have also sent troops who are now combing the surrounding hills for the murderers. We also gathered that the villagers were able to kill some of the invaders.”
