Bandits raid Niger communities, kill village head, abduct son, 17 others in Niger

Armed gunmen said to be in their numbers on Friday left behind tales of sorrow as a village head in Niger community was killed with several others injured.
ABUJAPEOPLE gathered that the attack, which started at about 2am, left the village head of Rumache in Kukoki Ward of Shiroro Local Government Area, Mallam Ahmad Yakubu, dead.
In the four villages attacked, it was gathered that 17 persons were kidnapped while several others sustained various degrees of injuries from gunshots and other dangerous weapons.
It should be recalled that similar attacks were carried out by heavily armed bandits on Magami, Gungu, Zongoro and Masuku Villages in Shiroro Local Government Area, where 17 people were kidnapped.
It was learnt that the bandits also dispossessed the villagers of their valuable belongings worth a huge amount of money, setting their houses ablaze and abducted the son of the deceased Village Head.
Confirming the attack, the Chairman of Shiroro Local Government Area, Mallam Suleiman Dauda Chukuba, said the villagers were taken unawares and it was difficult to ascertain the number of bandits who invaded the village.
According to Chukuba: “The attack happened between 1am and 2am.
“They were many and they took the villagers unaware.
“No one could ascertain their numbers because it was night.
“As for casualties, only the Village head was killed while his son was kidnapped.
“However, a day before, the bandits invaded four communities and kidnapped 17 people in Magami, Gungu, Zongoro and Masuku communities.”
Chukuba stated that the Police from Erena Division and some vigilantes are currently combing the forest and the villages.
The Chairman then appealed for urgent intervention from the government.
He said: “I need government intervention because of the way this is going, we need government’s intervention.”
One of the children of the deceased Village Head, Al-Mustapha Ahmed, also confirmed the death of his father, expressing shock over the attack that left his father dead and one of his brothers abducted.
He lamented that the government has deliberately remained complacent on the lingering security challenges currently rocking the whole of Shiroro Local Government Area.
According to Ahmed: “Attacks of this nature have almost become a daily routine, thereby subjecting unarmed and peace-loving people to ceaseless tension, fear, anxiety, and panic constantly.
“It is no longer news that inhabitants of these affected parts of the local government have since been robbed of security, forcing us to scamper helter-skelter for security and safety somewhere else.
“People have been displaced and ironically made circumstantial but avoidable refugees in their own ancestral land.”