Following Sunday’s helicopter attack that left not less than 32 people dead, surviving residents have fled the affected communities in the Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

FIJ learned that the terrorist attack, which was confirmed by Samuel Aruwan, the Commissioner of Home Affairs in the state, took place in Dongon Noma, Ugwan Gamu and Ugwan Sarki, close to Maro.

“Our village (Maikori) is completely deserted. We have come here since Monday. We can no longer stay on our ancestral land. The terrorists would come at anytime, kidnap and demand ransom. We sold our farm produce to pay ransom everytime,” a victim temporarily staying with a relative at Sabon Tasha in the Chikun LGA of the state told The PUNCH.

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A witness of the attack, who asked not to be named for safety, said the catastrophic event left residents in shock and mourning.

“We are still nursing the pains of the attack and our kinsmen are also raising money for the release of the abducted ones,” he said.

“The gunmen came twice and operated unhindered. They came with confidence and with air of certainty that there would be no threat from anybody. When some of our people were abducted and killed the first time that night, we thought that was it, but they came again. That night we couldn’t sleep, it was hell.”

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Martina Dennis, another witness, said the attackers were doing all they could to take over the villages.

“We are helpless. They have rustled our livestock, goat, rams, chickens. Killed our families and abducted our children,” she said.