A mobile policeman attached to the Maru police division was killed by terrorists who attacked Ruwan Doruwa, a community in Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State on Sunday.

Residents said 13 people consisting of six women, five men and two children were abducted by the terrorists during the attack that lasted more than two hours.

“The terrorists surrounded the town around 1:00 a.m and started shooting. Some of the terrorists entered the town and started shooting. That was when the policeman was shot. Other people were also shot but he was the only one who died,” a community leader who asked not to be named for security reasons said. He said most of the women taken were married.

The community leader said the terrorists came to abduct residents of the community so they could collect ransom before releasing them.

“They know our people are bringing their farm produce home that is why they decided to strike. We didn’t even have much freedom to farm due to the terrorists and now they want to take away the little we produced,” he said in Hausa Language.

Another resident, Faisal Ibrahim, said his sister, Zainab, who is married to the district head of the area, was one of those abducted.

The Zamfara police spokesperson, Yazid Abubakar, did not respond to an SMS sent to him on the attack. His phone number was also unreachable as of the time of this story.

Maru is one of the most insecure communities in Zamfara. Attacks by terrorists are common in the town and surrounding neighbourhood.

The North-west subregion has been battling terrorists, also called bandits, for over a decade.

The terrorists have killed or abducted thousands of people and tens of thousands of others have been displaced in the region.

The terrorists primarily target schools, religious houses, travellers and rural communities.