No fewer than 27 people, including a policeman, are feared dead while eight others got injured during a reprisal attack by gunmen who had unleashed mayhem in Dangulbi town, a district of Dansadau Emirate in Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State, Monday. Vanguard gathered that the reprisal attack on the area followed the killing of some gunmen by both vigilante and Police in Dansadau axis of the state. The suspected gunmen reportedly sneaked into the town, posing as traders on the market day in Dangulbi. But they stayed back after the market had closed. Eyewitness account An eyewitness said the killing started at 1am, yesterday, when the villagers were fast asleep with sporadic gunshots renting the air. The gunmen allegedly went from house to house, killing the occupants of the buildings in cold blood. The district head of Dangulbi, Alhaji Shehu Umar was among the people who narrowly escaped death. The assailants, whose number could not be ascertained, reportedly came on motorcycles and left about 18 dead bodies after the operation. Nine others were killed along their route, while they were fleeing the town. The gunmen were also said to have abandoned some of the motorcycles with which they came to Dangulbi. Survivor’s story A resident, Alhaji Lawali Dangulbi, who spoke to Vanguard at the Federal Medical Centre, FMC, Gusau, said the gunmen killed 18 persons in Dangulbi; adding that others were killed along the routes leading to towns like Biya, Guru and Sabon Kasuwa villages. He said eight people, who sustained various degrees of injuries, were on admission at the FMC. He said the gunmen first attacked the police, killed one and injured others, which led to the police fleeing the area before they started killing people in their homes. Dangulbi said: “They are not armed robbers because nobody has reported that they took away his belongings.” Zamfara State Deputy Governor, Mallam Ibrahim Wakala, visited Dangulbi town, about 100 kilometres away from the state capital, where the bodies of those killed were buried yesterday. Police react State Police Command Spokesman, ASP Sanusi Amiru, confirmed the incident, saying the Police Commissioner, Akila Gwary was on an assessment visit to the areas where the killings reportedly took place. Dansadau axis of the state had been witnessing killings by unknown gunmen, with about 160 people, including five policemen, reportedly losing their lives in Lingyado, Dansadau, and Tungar Baushe since crises erupted in the area in 2011. … as youths kill 5 in Plateau reprisal attack Five persons were killed, yesterday, in Jos, Plateau State, by irate youths protesting the suicide bombing attack that killed several people at Lord’s Chosen Assembly Church in Jos, Sunday morning. Meanwhile, Jama’atu Alus Sunna Lidaawati Wal Jihad, popularly known as Boko Haram, has claimed responsibility for the suicide attacks in Jos, and another attack targeted at EYN Church in Tabra- Biu, Borno State. The sect said it undertook the attacks to prove that Nigerian security agencies cannot stop its attacks and operations in the North. Spokesperson of Special Task Force, STF, Captain Markus Mdahyelya, who confirmed the killing of five persons in Jos by angry youths, said those killed were primarily commercial bike riders. He warned residents of Jos to stop taking laws into their hands. He said: “The general public is warned not to take the laws into their hands as any act of crime would not be tolerated by the security agencies.” About six persons have been arrested in connection with the killings, according to the police. A suicide bomber drove a car rigged with explosives into the Church in a saloon car with number plate BSA 36 AA. The car exploded before it could reach its intended target killing the bomber and four others. The church building was destroyed.