No fewer than 20 persons have lost their lives when armed men suspected to be bandits attacked four communities in Akure North local government area of Ondo State in the early hours on Saturday.
LEADERSHIP gathered that the communities attacked by the gunmen include Aba Alajido, Aba Sunday, Aba Pastor and Ademekun, all in the Akure North LGA.
During the midnight attack, a source informed LEADERSHIP that scores of people living in the communities were killed.
Confirming the incident to our correspondent on Monday, a police source, said policemen were deployed in the area on Sunday and that no fewer than 14 dead bodies had so far been recovered in the affected communities while search was still ongoing as at the time of filing this report.
According to the source, “Our men were immediately deployed in the area when the report got to the command on Saturday. As I’m speaking with you, about 14 dead bodies had been recovered in the villages”.
Also, a resident of one of the attacked communities said that no fewer 40 people were killed by the bandits while many residents have deserted the communities.
The resident, identified simply as Sunday, said the attack started since last week Monday but the major one occurred on Friday night without any resistance from the security operatives.
According to him, “The attacked our communities on Friday night when everyone was asleep. They opened fire at everyone at sight. So many people ran to the bush for safety while some unlucky ones were killed at the villages. I am sure that over 40 people have been killed while many had sustained injuries.
“On Sunday, the security men came around and recovered some of the corpses. Many are still not found, if they search further they will still find more dead bodies in the bush.”
Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the state Command, Funmilayo Odunlami- Omisanya who confirmed the incident said investigation had started while men of the Command were already in the area to restore normalcy.
She said, “The matter was reported on Saturday that the Aba Pastor community was attacked, immediately the command swung into action to ensure that normalcy is restored and arrest the perpetrators.”
Also, the Regent of Ademekun Community, Princess Adelowo Adekemisola disclosed that the bandits killed 14 persons in her community.
While expressing bitterness over the incident, the Regent said, “Fourteen (14) people were killed last weekend by the herdsmen who infiltrated my community and started shooting sporadically.
The community has been battling the herdsmen problem for the past six years.”
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