Some gunmen suspected to be herdsmen have killed six hunters in Aljannaru, a farming community in Song Local Government Area of Adamawa State.
According to residents, the gunmen, who were on camels got to the community in a night raid, destroying farms and shooting indiscriminately.
The sources said the attackers eventually gunned down six of the hunters who usually helped in securing the community against external elements.
The Adamawa State Police Command confirmed the incident Sunday night, but said the killings resulted from an invasion of the farm of a particular hunter who mobilised some other hunters for help only for the them to get killed.
The Command Spokesman, Sulaiman Nguroje, in a telephone interview said: “There is one hunter who is a resident of Gombi Local Government Area who has a farm in Aljannaru village in neighbouring Song LGA.
“Two days ago, he visited his farm to make some harvest. Unfortunately, there were these Fulani migrant herdsmen who were riding horses and camels and were moving with their cows.
“You know they move a lot from east to west mostly when it is raining or when it is dry season. They invaded his farm and he reacted by calling his colleagues for help.
“He invited his colleagues from Gombi to join him to prevent the herdsmen from causing mischief in his farm. The colleagues joined him without any of them informing the police, so the police did not know what was happening.
“It was in the evening of yesterday (Saturday), when the hunters were not seen, that their people reported to the police and the police, joined by hunters and some vigilantes, mobilised and entered the area.
“They found the corpses at a certain remote side of Aljannaru, very close to Zumo Hill. So, we established that the migrant herders ambushed and killed the hunters.”
The police said its men have been mobilised, and other sister security agents and hunters who have since Sunday morning been combing the bush with a view to arresting the culprits.
