Speaker of the Zamfara State House of Assembly, Alhaji Sanusi Garba Rikiji, has said bandits have taken control of three districts of Zurmi Local government area.

He stated this during his visit on Saturday, following another attack by bandits on some villages under Mashema, Kwashebawa and Birane districts, Zurmi Local Government Area of Zamfara State, while about 42 persons were reportedly killed.

Rikiji, who was in Zurmi on Saturday, to distribute relief materials to internally displaced persons, was shocked to discover that some diExcerpted from a Tribune reportstricts were already under the control of bandits.

He said the districts under Zurmi emirate, were under the control of bandits, which means they had taken over all the land.

He added that more than 12,000 persons, especially women and children, had been displaced from their homes by the bandits.

•Excerpted from a Tribune report