A group of gunmen have killed at least four people during prayer at a mosque at Kawddi village in Zamfara State.
The attack, which also injured at least eight people, occurred at about 8pm on Tuesday in Zurmi Local Government Area (LGA) of the state.
The spokesman for Zamfara State Police Command, Mr Muhammad Shehu, confirmed this on Thursday morning in a phone interview with Channels Television.
He said the gunmen invaded the village in large numbers and started shooting sporadically and in the process, killed four people while eight others were critically wounded.
Situated in a thick forest and surrounded by rocks, Kwaddi village shares boundary with the Niger Republic, a terrain which the police spokesman said made it difficult for security operatives to respond swiftly to any distress call.
He, however, disclosed that security operatives have been deployed in the village to forestall further attacks and restore calm to the area.
On Tuesday last week, three people were killed in a similar deadly attack by suspected bandits on five villages in Gidan Goga district of Maradun LGA of the state.
But the Commissioner of Police in Zamfara, Mr Kenneth Ebrimson, had told Channels Television on Thursday when he confirmed the attack that a police patrol team responded swiftly to the distress call of attacks in the LGA.
He said the bandits fled after killing three persons, following the arrival of the security operatives whom he said had gone after the suspects.
However, eyewitnesses told Channels Television that 30 people were killed across the villages during the attacks, although the police authorities insisted that three people died.
They claimed the attacks were carried out simultaneously in the early hours of the day, while many villagers were wounded in the process.
The locals had also said that the invaders stormed the villages on motorbikes, shooting sporadically at residents and carting away their livestock.
