By Gabriel Atumeyi
365Daily – The Zamfara State government has confirmed the killing on Sunday of many mobile police officers on special duty by bandits in Kurar Mota area of Zamfara State.
The Punch had earlier reported that about 13 Special Mobile Police Officers were feared killed by bandits in Kurar-mota village of Bungudu Local Government Area of Zamfara State.
According to an indigene of the area, Malam Almu Shehu, the police officers were ambushed by bandits near Kurar-mota village on Sunday when they went there in their patrol vehicles.
Shehu said, “The police officers were passing through the area not knowing that, the bandits were hiding in the bush who opened fire, killing 13 of the Mobile Police and injured several others.”
A spokesperson of Governor Bello Matawalle confirmed the incident but did not provide details.
He said the governor had cancelled his schedules in mourning of the fallen police officers.
Ibrahim Zauma, special assistant to the governor on new media, gave the confirmation of the attack on his official Facebook page.
He posted thus: “Governor Bello Matawalle has just cancelled his scheduled political meeting in commiseration of the death of our gallant MOPOL officers at Kurar Mota frontline base.
“The Governor is shocked over the bandits incursion which claimed the lives of the police officers. May the souls of those who fell rest in peace. 😪”
A resident of Dangulbi also spoke about the killings but unable to say how many people died.
“I heard the gunshots coming from the axis I was heading to,” the resident said, adding that when some people standing by the roadside asked him to stop, he thought they were among the bandits.
However, a source at Yarima Bakura Specialist Hospital said the bodies of the mobile police officers had been deposited in the facility.
“I counted 26 bodies and several injured others who have been taken to the emergency unit. Two suspected bandits were also brought with gunshots injuries.”
The police spokesperson in the state, Mohammed Shehu, promised to respond to this reporter’s inquiry on the incident but had not done so at of the time of filing this report.