From ANDY ASEMOTA, Katsina Dead bodies suspected to be victims of the curses placed on the unknown gunmen who attacked about six villages in Faskari and Sabuwa Local Government Areas of Katsina State have littered the forest surrounding the neigbouring communities. Some of the corpses were found with guns and motorcycles beside them.
Eyewitnesses said some of the corpses are decomposing. They had no visible gunshot wound, lending credence to the fact that they died from the curses invoked on the perpetrators of last month’s mayhem in the areas.
Suspected armed hoodlums, who raided Maigora, Unguwar Doka, Sabon Layin Galadima and Kaura Mota in Faskari LGA and Marabar Maigora in Sabuwa council on March 12 and 13, this year, left about 100 persons dead and several houses in ruins or devastated.
The men believed to be cattle rustlers and bandits, stormed the villages in about 100 motorcycles with three persons on each bike. They shot sporadically into houses and vehicles before setting some of them ablaze.
Some people told Daily Sun that some leaders of the affected communities had reportedly warned residents of the areas and others not to touch any dead body or property found in the bush or on the road to avert deadly consequences.
The Chairman of Faskari Local Government, Isyaku Ahmed, who confirmed the incident, said about 1, 915 women and children from the affected villages that took refuge in Faskari Model Primary School after the attack had been re-united with their families following the return of peace in the areas.
“I heard of it (the dead bodies found in the forest). I am sure it is true, yes,” the local government boss told Daily Sun yesterday on telephone.
Ahmed stated that about 10 pregnant women that gave birth in the camp were all doing well together with their children as the council took charge of the feeding, medication, water and sanitation of all the displaced persons.
The police command’s spokesman, Abubakar Sadiq, a Deputy Superintendent, however, said the police are yet to receive the report of dead suspected hoodlums and cattle rustlers uncovered in Rugu Forest.
A resident of Sabuwa LGA, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the development is an open secret in the area.
“Of course, I heard it from people and there is an element of truth in the story,” he noted.
(Biafra Galaxy)
