Gunmen suspected to be banditshave attacked the convoy ofPresident Muhammadu Buhari inKatsina State.
The Senior Special Assistant to thePresident on Media and Publicity,Garba Shehu, confirmed this in astatement on Tuesday.
He explained that a convoy of carscarrying the advance team ofsecurity guards, as well as protocoland media officers ahead of thePresident’s trip to Daura for Sallahcame under attack near Dutsinma in Katsina.
The attackers, according to Shehu,opened fire on the convoy fromambush positions, but they wererepelled by operatives of the military, police, and the Department of State Services (DSS) accompanying the convoy.
He stated that two persons in theconvoy who sustained minor injuries were receiving treatment while all other persons made it safely to Daura.
The attack on the President’sadvance team is the latest in theseries of criminal activities by theoutlaws who have continued toterrorise communities in the NorthWest and parts of the north-centralregion of the country.
On Wednesday last week, banditsinvaded a mining site at Ajata-Aboki in Gurmana Ward of Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State where some persons were killed, and others abducted.
Thirteen policemen and civiliansreportedly lost their lives to theincident while four Chinese nationals were among the victims said to have been kidnapped.
Amid reports that about 30 bodies of soldiers, who had responded to adistress call on the attack wererecovered from the bush, theNigerian Army authorities said “anumber of personnel paid thesupreme price in the fierce firefightthat ensued”.
