Two mobile police officers lost their lives on Thursday night after an attack on a police checkpoint in Batsari Local Government Area of Katsina State.
The attack came barely a week after a group of terrorists attacked a military camp in the same area.
According to PREMIUM TIMES, the police checkpoint affected on Thursday lies a few kilometres from the Batsari main town on the road to the Katsina metropolis.
“As usual, the attackers were in large numbers and on motorcycles. On sighting the terrorists, our people stationed at the checkpoint opened fire but the terrorists had more numbers,” a security agent serving in Batsari told this reporter in confidence.
The mobile police checkpoint is not far from a more “secured” military formation in the Batsari main town.
“The attackers quickly left that scene before we could ask for reinforcement. One mobile policeman died instantly while the other died at the hospital,” the source added.
However, the police spokesperson in the state, Abubakar -Sadik Aliyu, said only one of the officers died, adding that the other was still receiving medical attention at a hospital.
“Yesterday at about 8 p.m., some suspected armed bandits, deceitfully dressed in hijab, attacked officers at their duty post situated in Saki Jiki village of Batsari LGA.
“The officers responded bravely and successfully repelled the attack. However, one officer lost his life and another was injured as a result of the attack. Further development will be communicated in due course please.”
Batsari Local Government is one of the most vulnerable areas in the state. It shares boundaries with the dreaded Rugu forest and Zamfara State, another state witnessing terrorist activities.
The trend of attacks on security formations by terrorists is not new in the Nigerian north -west with notorious banditry kingpins like Bello Turji, Ada Aleru, Dankarami, the late Ali Kawaje and Dogo Gide operating in the region.
“Sometimes, they do that (attack security facilities) for two reasons; one is to instil fears in the minds of residents that even the security agents can’t protect them and second to scare the security agents and make them unorganised,” Saifullahi Kuraye, a public affairs and security analyst in Katsina, told PREMIUM TIMES.
