From John Adams
Minna – Bandits went haywire across some Niger State communities on Sunday and Monday night, killing well 60 vigilantes and five other persons in Tungan Magajiya, Rijau local government area and Paikpa village in Munya local government area of Niger state in two separate attacks.
The 60 local vigilantes were killed in an ambush at Sakaba, a border village between Niger and Kebbi state on the night of Sunday, March 6 at about 9;00pm .
The vigilantes who were from Sakaba in Kebbi State and Tungan Magajia and Rijau in Niger state were on a joint security patrol of the area when the bandits struck.
According to a source close to Rijau, the vigilantes were on the trail of the gunmen said to be numbering over 100 after receiving information about their movement .
But unknown to the vigilantes, an informant had alerted the gunmen that they were being trailed by the vigilantes.
The gunmen immediately divided themselves into two; with one group laying ambush while other group advanced forward.
The vigilantes, unaware of the ambush, found themselves in the midst of the heavily armed gunmen who opened fire on them from back and front.
It was further gathered that those vigilantes who bullets could not penetrate, were hacked down with machetes and other dangerous weapons.
Twelve of the victims were from Rijau while the remaining 48 were from Sakaba and Tungan Magajiya.
Also in Paikpa village, Munya local government area, gunmen killed no fewer than five villagers while a number of others were seriously injured in a midnight raid.
Unspecified number of cattle were also stolen from the people by the rampaging gunmen, who eyewitnesses said stormed the community at about 11:00pm of Monday, March 7, riding on motorcycles with each of them carrying AK-47 rifles and other dangerous weapons.
The gunmen were said to have entered the village through Luwi community, making the villagers to run in different directions after which the gunmen raided Njita and Chibani where they kidnapped many people and rustled cattle before making their way to Paikpa village.
According to a source close to chibani village, “the gunmen operated for several hours searching all the houses in the village without any response to distress calls to the security men stationed at Sarkinpawa”.
The source added that after hours of raid, the bandits escaped into the Chikun forest in Kaduna state.
The Secretary to the Niger State Government, Alhaji Ahmed Ibrahim Matane confirmed the story but said he was yet to get the number of casualty.
Matane said the gunmen entered Paikpa late on Monday during which they abducted some people and rustled a lot of cattle.
“Men of the Civilian JTF and local vigilante engaged the bandits in battle which lasted hours making the gunmen to escape into the bush,” he said.
Also in Chukuba community in Shiroro local government, four women were raped by gunmen on Sunday morning.
The women had left the IDP camp in Zumba to go and get some food stuff from the farm when they ran into some gunmen.
The women were said to have ran into the gunmen on their way back from the farm and were stopped and dragged to the bush where they were raped by some of the gunmen.
The gunmen seized all their food stuffs from them and were later allowed to go.
