Over 250 villagers have been reportedly killed and 800,000 displaced by armed bandits on Friday in 17 communities in Zurmi Local Government Area of Zamfara State.

A district head from one of the affected villages in Zurmi, Tungare Fulani village whose name was given as Sayidu Isah said he and other villagers got the opportunity to escape from the troubled area noting that he could not say for sure how many more people were killed after some of them ran away from the village.

A spokesman of the displaced persons at the Government Arabic Secondary School in Zurmi noted that about 12 villages were still under siege as at the time of filing the report. He noted that only Mashema, Kalage, Gambiru, Ynuwala, Tunanri villages were being safeguarded after a lot of damages had been done by the gunmen before the arrival of the soldiers.

The district head noted that when they contacted the security agencies, the excuse was that the roads were not in good order for their vehicles to move on.

Some of the villagers who spoke with newsmen said almost all the communities under Zurmi local government had been taken over by the gunmen saying most people who have the opportunity had deserted their communities.

Most of those who spoke to newsmen, however, confirmed the story saying that there was no response from any security agency in the area to resist the attacks by the gunmen in the villages which they said was a very grave situation.

In a swift reaction, the Emir of Zurmi, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku described the situation as very terrible, noting that he had been warning that Zurmi Local Government Area had been under siege but nobody cared until it went out of control.

• Culled from a Daily Independent report