•Asake condemns attack, urges el-Rufai to fish out, punish perpetrators
•Security operatives after bandits, say Kaduna police
Terrorists have killed 17 persons, including a policeman, in Southern Kaduna, and injured others.
The Guardian gathered that the attack took place in community, Zango Kataf Local Council of Kaduna State.
Already a 24-hour curfew has been imposed on Ungwan Juju, Mabuhu, Unguwar Wakili and Zangon Urban to forestall further crisis.
Special Assistant (Media) to the Chairman of Zango Kataf Local Council, Yabo Ephraim, who disclosed the imposition of the curfew to newsmen, yesterday, said: “This is to allow men of the Nigerian Army restore peace to the axis.”
A source, who craved anonymity, told journalists that trouble started on Saturday afternoon when a misunderstanding arose between security operatives and a Fulani man at a checkpoint in Ungwan Wakili, which led to the killing of a Fulani and a policeman at the checkpoint.
The situation, according to him, escalated in the evening, when some youths, who went fishing, were attacked and one person butchered by Fulani bandits.
Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate for Kaduna, Jonathan Asake, has condemned the attack and called for calm.
He condoled with the bereaved families and prayed for the repose of the souls of the deceased.
Asake urged Governor Nasir el-Rufai to be bold and develop the political will to address the incessant killings in the state.
In a statement, yesterday, Asake described a situation where innocent men and women, as well as children were killed in their sleep as “a barbaric act, which should never be condoned in any sane society under the rule of law.”
He called on the state government to arrest and prosecute the perpetrators to serve as deterrent to other criminal elements in the society, and to forestall recurrence in other communities.
According to him, it is only when the long arm of the law is seen to have acted against criminality that criminals would desist crimes.
Confirming the attack, Kaduna Police Command said security operatives are already trailing the terrorists.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Muhammed Jalige, said, in a telephone chat, explained that from the briefing he received from the Area Commander, trouble started a couple of days ago, when a boy rearing cattle was murdered.
“We were trying to manage the situation while investigating the sad occurrence before trouble broke out,” he said.
On the casualty figure, Jalige said a joint security team would be combing the bushes in the area in search of bodies, as well as apprehend those responsible for the killings.
“We are on top of the situation and all the hoodlums responsible would be rounded up.
“Repelling the hoodlums was a tedious task for our security agencies, but they were successful, as the terrorists scampered away from the scene,” he stressed.
