Five ring leaders of bandits and their fighters were murdered in violent clashes between rival bandit groups in Zamfara State.
The Ado Aliero’s group and Kachalla and Dogo Bali group fought on Sunday in Mada village in Gusau; in Yankuzo, Yan waren Daji and Munhaye villages in Tsafe LGA leading to casualties on both sides.
Daily Trust reports that the deadly encounter happened when the Kachalla group defied Ado Aliero’s order not to attack villages around the Yankuzo area, as that is Aliero’s territory.
According to a source: “It was said that Aliero had earlier warned Kachalla to stop harassing communities around Yankuzo but he failed to adhere to this warning.
“So, on Sunday, we learnt Kachalla invited his friend Dogo Bali for an operation in the Yankuzo area. While Kachalla and Bali were busy operating, Aliero placed his men at a strategic place for an ambush attack and they killed scores of Kachalla and Bali’s foot soldiers.
“It is being speculated that during the gun battle that lasted for several hours, Ado Aliero’s group succeeded in killing many fighters among them four prominent bandit leaders: Dogo Bali, Dan Makaranta, Malam Gainaga, Mallam Tukur, and Malam Jaddi.
“Also, several other foot soldiers were injured during the gun battle.”
Aliero led his group to invade camp of Alhaji Dan Nigeria’ d group another notorious bandit leader, in Yan Waren Daji, forcing him to abandon the camp and leave behind over 150 AK47 rifles, the source added.
The attacks expanded to other groups shortly after the news filtered out that Bali has been killed.
A local said there were similar attacks involving followers of the three bandits’ leaders occurred in Mada, Munhaye and Yanwaren Daji villages.
“We have heard about clashes between fighters of Ado Aliero and that of Bali and Kachalla in those areas, but at the moment, I don’t know how many people were killed during the fight. We have not heard from our people over there,” he said.
“Dabar Gahori is among the big enclaves that is hosting a large number of bandits of different groups. It has been long since the Nigerian troops raided the area. Virtually all the prominent bandits’ leaders have their foot soldiers in the Dabar Gahori super camp.
“Bello Turji, Dan Karami, Dogo Gide, Aliero, Kachalla, Dogo Bali, Damina and Sani Karami all have boys in this enclave. So, that is why the followers of the deceased terrorists engaged in a fight after the death of their masters,” the source further said.
A local of Hayin Alhaji village, Muhammad Salga, said Bali’s foot soldiers stormed Hayin Alhaji to Munhaye village, killing fighters of other groups when their leader was killed.
According to Salga, Kachalla’s members had planned to attack Aliero at Yan Awaren Daji, but failed to do so as Aliero and his fighters had already left the place.
