SaharaReporters gathered that some hoodlums from Gure village who were armed with cutlasses, guns and other dangerous weapons stormed Kitimi village on Friday over an age-long controversial claim of ownership of a piece of land bordering both villages.
At least one person has been confirmed dead during an inter-community crisis between Gure and Kitimi villages in the Saminaka local government area of Kaduna State.
SaharaReporters gathered that some hoodlums from Gure village who were armed with cutlasses, guns and other dangerous weapons stormed Kitimi village on Friday over an age-long controversial claim of ownership of a piece of land bordering both villages.
It was learned that a woman died while three others were injured during the attack.
A source in the area who simply identified himself as Abduldayyan told SaharaReporters that several houses and properties were destroyed during the attack.
According to him, Nigerian security operatives have taken over Kitimi village after the incident to ensure peace is restored to the two warring communities.
Explaining how the deceased woman died, Abduldayyan said, “She was frightened and then her blood pressure went up and she died instantly.”
He went on to say that the three other people were wounded by gunshots.
Another victim of the incident, seen in a video obtained by SaharaReporters, described how the attackers burnt down his house and stole his belongings.
He said the attackers also burnt his livestock and destroyed his farm produce.
“They stormed my house and stole valuables and then set my house ablaze. As I stand here, there is nothing left for me. The fertilisers I bought to boost growth and productivity on my farm are gone, even my clothes are gone; all I have is what you see on my body.
“The flames you see over there are coming from my 10 bags of soybeans. One of my cows was shot dead while another was burnt. My poultry house was destroyed and all the birds were burnt. In fact, I got to know about the whereabouts of my family around 11 pm,” he said in Hausa.
The state police spokesperson, Mohammed Jalige did not respond to repeated calls and text messages sent to him to get further clarification and update on the incident as at press time.
Due to its heterogeneity, inter-communal crisis, like what is occurring between Gure and Kitimi is common in Kaduna State.
In January 2022, the state governor, Nasir El-Rufai was quoted as saying that no fewer than 387 lives were lost to communal clashes in Kauru and Zangon Kataf local government areas of the state in 2020 and 2021.
Mr El-Rufai said the lives were lost to clashes among Atyap, Fulani, Chawai, Irigwe and Hausa ethnic communities in the two areas.
In April 2023, a community leader in Birnin Gwari in the state, Zubair Abudurra’uf, said killings were now a daily occurrence in Zagon Kataf and other areas of the state.
He noted in an interview that government committees or panels set up to stop the killings had not initiated any “definite action from the government to prosecute all those found culpable” because they were also allegedly complicit.