Driver, Passenger Killed as Terrorists Attack Katsina Transport Vehicle

Francis Sardauna in Katsina

A driver with the Katsina State Transport Authority (KTSTA), Nasiru Yushau and one passenger were  shot dead yesterday  when rampaging terrorists opened fire on a 30-seater bus of the agency along the Katsina-Jibia highway.

The incident occurred at Farun Bala community at about 11am  when the driver of the commercial bus was conveying the passengers from Jibia Local Government Area to Katsina, the state capital.

Sources said the deceased upon sighting the terrorists who were crossing the ever-busy road at the community, tried to reverse the vehicle back to Jibia when they opened fire on the vehicle, shot him dead and one other passenger.

The sources claimed that many passengers were also kidnapped by the terrorists and some sustained varying degree of injuries while scampering for safety during the incident.

But the General Manager of the KTSTA, Haruna Musa, who while confirming the incident to THISDAY in a telephone interview, said the terrorists killed only the driver.

The general manager explained that the other person killed was not among the passengers that boarded the KTSTA vehicle with registration number 145-58KT.

According to him, the terrorists didn’t kidnap any of the passengers after killing the driver but carted away  some cash and telephones belonging to the survived passengers.

He said: “He (Nasiru Yushau) conveyed the passengers he took from Katsina to Jibia. Then, from Jibia also, he took passengers to Katsina that was when the incident happened at  Farun Bala community.

“The driver was trying to turn the vehicle with the passengers when he saw the four bandits crossing the road at that particular community. They shot him dead. Maybe they thought that he would go back and give information to security agencies.

“There was no kidnapping intention by the bandits because they didn’t kidnap anybody. They only shot the driver and collected some cash and phones of the passengers. It wasn’t a target.

“I went to the scene and I was among those that took the corpse from the scene to General Hospital Katsina now to Musawa, the hometown of the deceased, for burial”.