Gunmen kill four travelers and abduct several on Katsina's 'safest route'

At least four people, including the driver, were killed when bandits attacked a Katsina State Transport Authority bus registration KT 14D-58 KT on Sunday morning.

The attack occurred around the villages of Mil Takwas and Farun Bala, about five kilometers from the Natsinta army barracks at around 11:34 a.m.

The bus was attacked on the Jibia - Katsina highway which leads to Maradi in the Republic of Niger.

PREMIUM TIMES reports that there are more than 18 security checkpoints on the 38-kilometre road between the capital, Katsina, and Magama Jibia.

Nasir Muhammad, whose wife was one of the passengers on the bus, told PREMIUM TIMES the bus was one of four vehicles attacked.

“My wife called me around 11:47 a.m. shouting that they had been assaulted. I was in Katsina when she came from Jibia to meet me. She told me that their driver had already been killed and that there were other vehicles at the front that were attacked,” he said.

Jibia local government chairman Bashir Maitan confirmed the attack to reporters in Katsina on Sunday evening, but said only one person was killed.

"Yes, there was an attack on motorists today. We were informed of the movement of some bandits in the morning and while I was mobilizing some militia and security guards, we heard say the bandits had launched an attack,” he said.

He said the movement of the bandits was tracked from Gangara village to Kahel and connected to the main road.

“The bandits opened fire on the vehicle when it was obvious that the driver was trying to back up on seeing them,” he added.

"When I arrived at the Natsinta barracks, it was soldiers who asked us not to continue because bandits were attacking motorists, but I told them that my wife was in the attacked vehicle. I I was among the first to go there because even the chairman of the local government met me there,” he said.

He said that apart from the driver, two other people were killed while the fourth died at Umaru Musa Yar'adu'a University Hospital (formerly Federal Medical Center).

“I took my wife to the hospital with a few people while the president and other government officials took the rest to the hospital. , one of the injured passengers died,” he said.

READ ALSO: Gunmen kill five policemen, others in Katsina attack

The Director General of the Katsina State Transport Authority, Haruna Rugoji, confirmed the attack to the Nigeria News Agency in Katsina.

Mr. Rugoji said the gunmen took the phones and other items belonging to some of the passengers and left the scene.

"The driver of the vehicle who told us what really happened said that none of the passengers had been abducted by the bandits.

"Since then, we have heard no reports of any of the vehicle's passengers missing",

Spokesman for the Katsina State Police Command, Gambo Isa, did not issue a statement on the attack. His phone number did not connect when contacted by PREMIUM TIMES#

Katsina, like several other states in the northwest and part of the center-north, has for years struggled with insecurity, particularly cattle rustling, kidnapping for ransom and other forms of bandits.

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