Several Killed As Over Hundred Bandits Storm Niger Community

Over 100 gunmen have stormed some communities in Lavun Local Government Area of Niger State, killing eight people and injuring several others.

The attack which started on Saturday night, lasted up till the early hours of Sunday with the bandits also rustling an unspecified number of cattle.

The Commissioner for Local Government and Internal security, Emmanuel Umar, confirmed the attack to Channels Television in a phone call.

He, however, said he was yet to get more details of the incident.

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According to a source, the communities that were ransacked by the gunmen include Egbako, Ndaruka, Ebbo, Ndagbegi, Tshogi, Gogata and Ndakogitu.

The gunmen were said to have killed one person each at Ebbo, Tsonfadagabi, Tsogi and Kanko.

At Gbacitagi village, the bandits invaded a wedding ceremony, kidnapped the bride, one other girl, carted away money and other valuable items, and destroyed vehicles.

On their way out of the communities and heading towards Akare community in Wushishi Local Government Area with some of the rustled cattle, the gunmen got stuck when they discovered that the only bridge linking the community with Akare had collapsed.

According to another source, they were unable to successfully cross the river with the cattle, so they had to abandon them by the river and decided to retreat to Sheshi community to find another possible route out of the community.

The gunmen were, however, confronted by the locals, which resulted in an exchange of gunfire between them and the local vigilantes.

Six people were killed in the gun battle (two vigilantes and four locals).