Seven persons were feared dead following a midnight attack by fleeing bandits on Tatara village, Pandan, in Karu Local Council of Nasarawa State.

The Guardian learnt that the raid, which began at about 10:00 p.m. on Saturday, claimed the lives of seven people, including women. It was also discovered that the victims were killed before security agencies arrived at the scene.

An eyewitness, who claimed that the fleeing bandits were of Fulani ethnicity, said the attackers were on the run following recent military bombardments, which dislodged scores of terrorists in the nearby states of Katsina, Zamfara, and Kaduna.

A witness, Yakubu Adamu, who narrated the incident to The Guardian yesterday, said how the terrorists invaded the community and carried out their operation was unusual and unlike any of the recent attacks in the state.

“The onslaught can best be described as warfare,” Adamu said. “They came on motorcycles, well-equipped and terrifying. Before we knew what was happening, they started shooting sporadically, and they were speaking the Fulani dialect.

“The weapons they carried were sophisticated, and many people were injured apart from the seven who died immediately. If not for the quick response by the security agencies, the entire community would have been turned into a ghost town.

“We appeal to the state government to deploy more soldiers to the community because, apart from this attack, we have been contending with several other criminal activities in this village. That was why when this recent attack began, we thought it was another robbery, not until we discovered that they were trained terrorists,” Adamu narrated.

Other sources who also confirmed the attack noted that the community had experienced a series of assaults for some time.

The police had initially confirmed that it was a robbery incident.