Security operatives including the police, the air force, and the army, early Tuesday morning, killed no fewer than six bandits during a gun battle around Ummadau and Kwayawa villages in Katsina State.

The security operatives accosted the bandits at the location following distress calls that they (the bandits) had attacked Lambo village, Wurma ward in Kurfi Local Government Area of the state where they killed two people and kidnapped twenty-three victims.

The bandits, numbering over thirty were also said to have rustled seventy-four domestic animals.

The security operatives were said to have killed six of the bandits and rescued all the kidnapped victims and the rustled animals.

The spokesman for the Katsina Police Command, SP Gambo Isah, confirmed the incident.

His statement on the incident read, “On 29/12/2020 at about 02:30hrs, bandits numbering over thirty (30), shooting sporadically with AK 47 rifles, attacked Lambo village, Wurma Ward, Kurfi LGA of Katsina state, killed two persons and kidnapped seventeen (17) women and six (6) children.

“Personnel of the Nigeria Police Force, Nigerian Army, and Nigerian Air Force were alerted and they blocked all their possible escape routes.  Consequently, the teams laid siege for the hoodlums between Ummadau to Kwayawa village and engaged them in a fierce gun duel, as a result of which six (6) bandits were killed, all the twenty-three (23) kidnapped victims were rescued, twenty-three (23) Cows, twenty (20) sheep, and thirty-one (31) goats recovered, twelve (12) motorcycles and one G3 rifle recovered.  Search parties are still combing the area with a view to arresting more suspected bandits and/or recover their dead bodies.

“Investigation is ongoing.”

Meanwhile, Isah also on Tuesday confirmed that the command had received additional units of mobile police personnel, armoured vehicles, as part of efforts to tackle banditry and other crimes in the state.