Bandits Attack Katsina Transport Authority Bus, Kill Driver, Abduct Passengers

Bandits on Sunday killed a driver with the Katsina State Transport Authority (KTSTA), Nasiru Yusha’u, after the victim’s vehicle ran into the gunmen along the Katsina-Jibia road.

The terrorists are said to have kidnapped Yushau’s passengers after killing him.

A resident of Daddara village near the scene of the incident told Channels Television via telephone that the terrorists attacked the vehicle at about twelve noon on Sunday.

It was gathered that Yusha’u saw the gunmen and attempted to turn around, however, the terrorists caught up with him and shot him fatally.

After killing the driver on the spot, the terrorists who were operating on motorcycles abducted scores of passengers.

Some eyewitness say that the thirty-two seater bus loaded with mostly traders was on its way from Jibia Market to Katsina when the terrorists opened-fire on them.

Meanwhile, the General Manager (GM) of the Katsina State Transport Authority, Haruna Musa Rugoji has confirmed the incident.

Rugoji noted that the deceased conveyed the passengers he took from Katsina to Jibia. Then, from Jibia also, he took passengers to Katsina and it was on the return trip that the incident took place at Farun Bala.

“The driver was trying to turn the vehicle with the passengers when he saw the four bandits crossing the road at that particular community. They shot him dead. May be they thought that he would go back and give information.

“There was no kidnapping intention by the bandits because they didn’t kidnap anybody. They only shot the driver and collected cash and some phones from the passengers. It wasn’t a target.

“I went to the scene and I was among those that took the corpse from the scene to General Hospital Katsina now to Musawa, the hometown of the deceased, for burial,” the GM disclosed.

As at the time of filing this report, the State Police Command had not confirmed the incident and all attempts to reach the spokesman of the command proved abortive.