No fewer than 44 persons were said to have been killed by gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram in parts of Shiroro and Munya Local Government Areas of Niger State in renewed attacks on the areas.
In an attack on Galadinma Kolgo, Erena, Chukuba, and Allawa in Shiroro LGA on Saturday, the gunmen allegedly killed 27 persons, mostly women and children and also kidnapped 31 persons.
Aside from that, it was gathered that the gunmen had invaded Guni, Zagzaga and Dazza communities in Munya where they killed 17 people, including a blind man in the early hours of Saturday.
It was learnt that they abducted three women, scores of children and afterwards, set their homes and farmlands on fire.
It would be recalled that some communities in the state had been under attacks by terrorists in the last three weeks, resulting in several casualties and untold hardships on people of the affected areas.
When contacted on the incident, the President, Lakpma Youths Association, Jibril Allawa said that the gunmen kidnapped 28 persons in Gyramiya community in Allawa and are presently asking for N60m ransom before the victims can be set free.
According to him, “They carried away 28 people made up of three men and 25 women. Now, most of the affected communities in the two local government areas are now ghost towns as the villagers are currently taking refuge at the Internally Displaced Persons camp (IDPs) in Central Primary School, Gwada.”
Also confirming the attacks, the Co-Convener Concerned Shiroro Youths, Abubakar Sani Bello Kokki, stated that the terrorists invaded the communities in a large number on motorcycles with each carrying two or three passengers and operated for several hours.
Kokki condemned in strong terms the deliberate refusal of the government to bring an end to the increasing activities of gunmen in the areas, saying, “It is so painful the way and manner the villagers have been displaced from their homes and are now taking refuge in IDPs camps.
“The villagers can no longer harvest their farm produce, because the gunmen have warned them to stay away from their farms,” Kokki added.
Efforts to get the reaction from the state police on the attacks failed as at the time of filing this report as the state’s Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, DSP Wasiu Abiodun, could not be reached.
It would be recalled that Abiodun had earlier at an event organised by the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Niger State Council, on Monday, explained that police in the state and other security agencies are doing their best to curb insecurity.