15th May, 2012
No fewer than eight persons, including four policemen, were feared killed in a shoot out between the police and a gang of armed robbers at Dansadau in Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara .
A resident of a nearby village along Dansadau-Gusau road, Aliyu Na-Allah, l told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday that the incident occurred in the early hours of Sunday.
He said, “I heard sporadic shooting from a far distance.
“In the day time when the shootings subsided, we were told that the gun battle was between a gang of armed robbers and the policemen who were patrolling the area.
“We equally learnt that four of the policemen were killed, while two of the armed robbers also died in the shoot out.
Sources close to the police headquarters also said that two vigilance group members, who were on the spot to assist the police died while five other policemen were still missing.
The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the robbers laid ambush for the police patrol team and opened fire on spotting them.
The Public Relations Officer of the Zamfara Police Command, ASP Amiru Sanusi, who confirmed the incident, said he had no details of the number of casualties in the shoot out.
NAN recalls that armed banditry around Dansadau area between September 2011 and May had resulted in the death of more than 40 persons, including a number of policemen.
NAN also recalls that aerial surveillance introduced by the former Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Tambari Yabo, did little to reduce the protracted insecurity in the area.