Armed bandits on Sunday chased away mourners from a graveyard in Kagi village, about three kilometres from Science Secondary School Birnin-Gwari in Kaduna State, a report from the troubled community said.

According to the Birnin-Gwari Vanguards for Security & Good Governance, “The incident occurred around 8:40 a.m., when relatives and volunteers as well as a handful of policemen that went to Kagi for the burial of two victims of armed bandits attack in the village were on a procession to the grave after the funeral prayers. The gunmen fired shots indiscriminately and the people as well as the police took to their heels and returned to Birnin-Gwari town for safety.

“Later around 12.00 noon, vigilante groups, volunteers numbering about 300 and police went back to Kagi and outnumber the armed bandits to bury those killed in yesterday’s attack.” The group further noted in a statement that armed bandits on Friday attacked Kagi and Kugu farming communities around 6:00 p.m., killing two people, wounded two others and carted away cows and grains.

“Although during the attack the army went to the location but returned to base thinking the armed bandits had left, only to resurface this morning to take away remnant of castles that return to the village.

“With this attack on peasant farmers at Kagi (Bagoman Daji), just three kilometres from Birnin-Gwari town, the possibility of armed bandits into Birnin-Gwari town is imminent. We call on the Federal and state government as well as security agencies to deploy more personnel to protect our lives and property from merciless armed bandits,” the group said.