Armed men attacked a team of policemen in Zonai village in Magami district, Zamfara state, killing at least seven officers.

The incident occurred on Monday night along Magani-Gusau road where patrol teams have been deployed to keep peace in the area were ambushed.

The patrol was outnumbered and overpowered by the armed men and could not call for re-enforcement due to a lack of telecommunication services in communities outside the state capital.

A source  in the community, Salisu.Sani, said, “The bandits ambushed the police personnel, killed seven of them and set their operational vehicle ablaze”, adding that the bandits who were in large number engaged the police operatives in a gun battle, as a result of which seven of the police personnel were killed on the spot.

“I saw their dead bodies being evacuated to Gusau.”

Magami community is few kilometers away from Dansadau area, known as one of the hotbeds of banditry in Zamfara state.

The attack came less than 48 hours after bandits attacked Rijiya community, killed seven people and destroyed valuable properties.

Efforts to speak to police authorities in the state yielded no results as the phone lines of the commissioner of police and the public relations officer were unreachable.

However, spokesperson of the Yarima Bakura Specialist Hospital, Gusau, Awwal Ruwan-doruwa confirmed that the seven bodies of the slain police operatives were brought to the hospital.