MANY traders have been killed as bandits attacked a market in the Goronyo Local Government Area of the Sokoto State on Sunday.

The attack will make it the third time in two weeks that hoodlums will attack markets in the state.

It was gathered that the bandits attacked onion and other food crops market in Goronyo, in the Eastern Senatorial District of Sokoto State on Sunday which was the market day.

Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal confirmed the latest attack while receiving the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Faruk Yahya, who paid him a courtesy visit in Sokoto on Monday.

The governor said, “We appeal that you deployed more personnel and resources to the state to stop bandits and other criminal elements in the state.”

However, sources from the village said the assailants started shooting indiscriminately, leading to the death of some persons.

One of the sources said, “Many dead bodies were brought to the Goronyo General Hospital on the day of the attack and the number is expected to rise as bodies are still being searched in nearby river and bushes around the town.

“Informants may be allegedly responsible for the attack because, there is no way bandits will come to attack the village and caught the vigilantes off guard, without someone giving them information.

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“This latest attack makes it the third time in less than two weeks that gruesome attack is taking place in village markets across Sokoto State.”

Recall that penultimate Thursday, suspected members of the outlawed volunteer vigilantes, known as ‘Yan Sakai,’ attacked and killed nine Fulanis at Manmade Market in Gwadabawa LGA.

Twenty persons were also killed by suspected bandits at Ungwan Lalle Market of Sabon Birni LGA.

Sokoto State government had earlier ordered the closure of markets in the Eastern Senatorial District of the state to fight the rising insecurity in the state.

Meanwhile, the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, in his reaction to the attack said bandits no longer have a place to hide.

In a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity Garba Shehu, Buhari said, “The cowardly attacks on innocent people by the bandits show a rearguard action of criminals under pressure. But they will have no place to hide and our gallant security forces will not relent in the current offensive to defeat these callous enemies of humanity.”