Gunmen kill 100 in Kaduna massacre

At least 100 people were killed when
some gunmen attacked three villages in
Kaura Local Government Area of Kaduna
State in the early hours of Saturday.
Our correspondent gathered that the
attackers invaded the three villages of
Ugwar Sankwai, Ungwar Gata and
Chenshyi on Friday night when the
villagers were fast asleep.
According to eye witnesses, the
gunmen, numbering over 40, razed
houses and gunned down residents who
tried to escape.
One of the residents of Chenshyi, Nuhu
Moses, who managed to escape from
the scene of the attack, said no fewer
than 50 people were killed in his village.
He said: "The attackers were more than
40 and were armed with dangerous
knives, guns and other sophisticated
weapons. Over 50 people were killed in
our village alone and there is no house
standing.
All the houses were burnt by the
attackers while people who attempted,
to run were gunned down. I was just
lucky to have escaped, but our pastor's
wife and kids were among the people
that were butchered."
Also, a resident of Ungwar Sankwai,
Jonathan Bako, described his escape as a
miracle.
The Kaduna Command of the Nigeria
Police Force confirmed the incident.
Its spokesman, Mr. Aminu Lawan, said a
police men had been deployed in the
area while the command had started
investigating the attack.
Vice-Chairman of the council, Daniel
Anyip, confirmed that several houses
were set ablaze by the attackers.
He added that children and women
were not spared in the attack.
"From our records, in all the three
villages attacked, only five houses are
standing, while people killed are about
100. These are villages that housed a lot
of people but they are now homeless,"
he added.
Meanwhile, the state Governor, Mukhtar
Yero, through his spokesman, Mr.
Ahmed Maiyaki, has condemned the
attack, describing it as "ungodly and
barbaric."
Yero, who vowed to bring the
perpetrators to book, ordered a full-
scale investigation into the attack.
The governor condoled with the victims
of the attacks and assured them of his
administration's commitment to
protecting the lives and property of the
people of the state.
The governor also appealed to the
attacked communities to remain calm
and law-abiding as security operatives
were already on top of the situation.
A Southern Kaduna group, Centrum
Initiative for Development and Rights
Advocacy, also condemned the attack
and asked why the attackers operated
for several hours unchallenged.
CEDRA's spokesman, Dr. John Danfulani,
said the attack was nothing but a
genocide and an extinction of the
people of the southern part of the state.
He noted that the state government
and its agents were just politics with the
insecurity in the area and warned that
the patience of the people of the area
was fast running out.
Danfulani said, "We condemn in strong
terms the killings that took place in
Ungwan Gata, Me-Sankwai and Tekum
villages by suspected Fulani herdsmen.
"The killings in three villages continued
to early hours of Saturday and at the
end, over 100 innocent Southern
Kaduna people were butchered and
killed by the assailants with impunity. It
is a gradual genocide and an extinction.
"It is clear that the Kaduna State
government and their agents are only
playing politics with the insecurity
ravaging the southern Kaduna region.
We will also not shy away from stating
the obvious, that the Kaduna state
government has failed and is only
playing double standard."
On Friday, about 350 people lost their
lives in the clash between Boko Haram
insurgents and the Special Forces in
Maimalari, Maiduguri, Borno State.
The insurgents had attacked the 21
Armoured Brigade of the Nigerian Army
in the wee hours of Friday.