Mustapha Muhammad Tukur
People of Runjin Sambo area of Sokoto North Local Government Area of Sokoto state woke up to a heart-breaking story of an attack by unknown gunmen launched around 1:45am of Tuesday.
The Gunmen stormed the area, at the Muhammad Zaku School Junction, numbering about 20 with brand new AK 47 where they opened fire on a patrol team that was coming their way unknowingly, killing the driver of the vehicle and the other three officers in the vehicle escaped and sustained various degrees of injuries as a result.
The officers were members of the Sokoto Old Market Outpost Vehicle patrol team, Kwanni division of the Nigerian Police Force.
In an exclusive interview with Daily Star, an eye witness, who narrowly escaped the attack, who also claimed anonymity, said it was only the grace of God Almighty that saved their lives as the Gunmen outnumbered and had more sophisticated weapons than the police officers.
“At about 1:45am on Tuesday while on patrol with our Old Market Outpost Vehicle, we were moving slowly exiting the Muhammad Zanku junction when we suddenly saw group of gunmen numbering 20 all with sophisticated weapons and opened fire on us.
“Our driver was killed on the spot and the remaining of us (3) managed to escaped before we finally called reenforcement from our division”, one of the survivors said.
One of the survivors further said the gunmen must hae come for a target in the area, and when they saw the police vehicle, they thought the authorities were informed of their evil plan and opened fire.
“From all indication, the gunmen must have come for a target, but when they saw police patrol team, they thought they came for them because they all took cover and as soon as the police arrived at the junction, they just came out of hiding and started firing on saprodically.
“Unfortunately, the patrol team vehicle driver was hit and he died instantly”, the source further revealed.
All efforts to speak with the Police Public Relations Officer Sokoto state Police command were abortive he could not be reached through and didn’t respond to any of our text messages as at the time of filing in this report.