Sixteen persons, including a policeman, have been killed by armed bandits who attacked three villages in Maru local government area of Zamfara State, the police in Gusau confirmed.

The three villages are Tungar Rakumi, Mallamawa and Kangarawa.

The public relations officer of the state command, Lawal Abdullahi, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, said the attack was carried out by about 150 armed hoodlums riding on motorcycles last Saturday.

According to him, the hoodlums stormed Tungar Rakumi village where they killed 12 persons, and thereafter attacked Mallamawa and Kangarawa where they killed another four persons.

“The bandits, who are suspected to have carried out the attack to retaliate the killing of three suspected cattle rustlers by the community in Birnin Magaji local government area last week, were heavily armed with AK 47 rifles,” Abdullahi said.

He further explained that the police patrol team in the area fought back, forcing the hoodlums to flee with various degrees of injuries but lamented that the police always faced difficulties in trailing hoodlums in the area due to the inaccessible terrain and non-availability of telephone  signals.