The Mahmuda terror group has reportedly killed three persons in a fresh attack on a community in Kwara North senatorial district of the state.
The attack, according to reports, was launched while the local hunters of the community were in Ilorin, the state capital, for a national forest guard training approved by the presidency, aimed at providing security for members of the communities.
DAILY POST learnt that members of the new terror group launched the fresh attack on Duruma village in Baruten Local Government Area of Kwara State on Tuesday morning and slaughtered the three villagers.
The three villagers who were killed by the terrorists were immediately buried by the community, DAILY POST learnt.
According to reports, the terrorists carried out the heinous act despite the presence of soldiers who are currently in flashpoint areas of the affected communities.
DAILY POST recalls that in April, the Chief of Army Staff visited the areas, following which soldiers were deployed to the thick forests to flush out the terrorists, of which 12 were arrested.
Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, who also visited the troubled communities, reportedly provided 25 motorcycles to local hunters as logistics to complement the efforts of the soldiers.
However, the locals disclosed that members of the terrorist group never left the areas but were incapacitated by the presence of the soldiers and local hunters who had been providing support for the military.
A local resident in Baruten, who preferred anonymity, told DAILY POST: “Our local hunters are currently in Ilorin for the training of the National Forest Guard on how they can also use weapons effectively to fight the terrorists.
“Eventually, Mahmuda people felt their absence because they were no longer in the areas they used to be, so it was in those areas that the terrorists killed the three villagers.
“When the soldiers eventually came to the areas, firing gunshots in the air, they fled.
“A week before now, they also set fire to a farm settlement. Other affected areas where the terrorists are troubling our people include Kemaanji, Tenebo, Baabete, Nuku, and Nanu in Kaiama Local Government Area, as well as villages in Yashikira District, Baruten Local Government Area, both in Kwara State.”;
“As I am talking to you, our community, Kemanji, is under the control of the terrorists. They have not entered the main Kaiama town, and that was how it started in Sokoto, Kebbi and other states. Our community is about 10 kilometres from Kaiama,”; another source said.
Multiple sources also revealed that the group has seized control of communities in Babana and Wawa Districts in Borgu Local Government Area of Niger State.
Mahmuda is a new terror group emerging in Nigeria’s North Central region, terrorising residents of rural communities near Kainji Lake National Park.
Efforts to reach the spokesperson of the state police command, SP Ejire Adetoin Adeyemi, in Ilorin on Tuesday on the development were unsuccessful.
