30 women, children fleeing from terrorists, drown
The two canoes conveying residents of a community in Zaymfara State, in a bid to escape terrorists attack capsized on Wednesday with over 30 people, comprising mostly women and children got drowned inside the river
Penpushing reports that, source who preferred anonymity disclosed that, the terrorists invaded Birnin Wajje in Bukkuyum area of the State, at about 6 p.m, while the residents were preparing for the dawn prayers and started shooting sporadically
“The terrorists invaded the community while residents were preparing for the dawn prayers and started shooting sporadically. They entered the community from the western end but before they got deep into the community, other residents started fleeing to Zauma (a community across the river) but they had to cross the river’, the source said
Penpushing further reports that, the Director General to the State Governor Bello Matawalle, on new media, Ibrahim Zauma, said to be an indigene of the area, confirmed the incident on his Facebook page, adding that the incident was as a result of an onboard stampede.
“Following an onboard stampede of displaced persons running from pursuing bandit terrorists at Zauma ferry station, an unknown number of mostly women and children got drowned after two canoes capsized”, he said
Penpushing also reports that, Zauma, however said as at the time of filing this report, he was yet to get full details of the sad incident, while an account of member of the rescue process, Abubakar Shehu, a resident of Bukkuyum said the boats capsized due to overload.
The resident said 30 bodies have been recovered as of 9:15 a.m on Thursday, explaining that the river is deep and wide adding that it is possible some of the dead bodies have been washed away, adding that the rescue would not rest on it oars
Penpushing reports that, Shehu said more local divers have joined the search and rescue effort ongoing, just as another source from Zugu, a neighbouring community, Lawali Sambo, said Birnin Wajje has been taken over by the terrorists.
“Since that time yesterday (6:15 p.m) the entire community has remained under the control of the bandits. Several people have been trapped inside their houses. The bandits slept in the community and we’ve heard that they are still in the village,” he said.
The Zamfara State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Mohammed Shehu as at the time of filing this report was yet to make any official statement over the ugly development, while it is also on record that communities under Bukkuyum and Gummi have been witnessing renewed terrorists’ attacks since January.
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