About 30 people are feared killed in a reprisal attack by hoodlums on members of a local vigilance group known as “Yan sa kai” in Kwari community of Shinkafi local government of Zamfara State in the early hours of Friday.
No fewer than 60 others were also abducted by bandits during a raid of the area on Wednesday.
Governor Abdul Aziz Yari visited the town yesterday and told the brains behind the bloodletting that there would be no negotiation with them and that they would not know peace unless they put an end to their nefarious activities.
Residents said the hoodlums who had laid an ambush unexpectedly attacked a convoy of vehicles conveying traders from Shinkafi market back to Kwari at about 11.45pm.
The police said they found at the scene of the attack 13 corpses of traders and another 16 of members of the civilian JTF in the surrounding bush.
Moment after the governor arrived the town yesterday, he received a call on the mobile phone of the Emir of Lanka purportedly from the bandits in their hilly hideouts seeking a soft landing as they were tired of killing people.
A furious Yari however swore that the bandits would not know peace.
Government, he said, would use all available means to dislodge them and avenge their inhuman treatment of innocent people.
He said the Air Force would soon smoke them out of hiding.
A chief of the town and three of his wives were abducted although one of the women was later released.
A resident said farmers are finding it increasingly difficult to go to their farms for fear of being killed.
Several operational vehicles of the police burned by the hoodlums litter the area.
Many resident have relocated to the state capital, Gusau.
