Five Killed By Bandits in Niger Community

Laleye Dipo In Minna

Five people two of them mobile policemen have been killed in a raid by bandits on Kwampani Bobi town in the Mariga local government area of Niger state.

In the incident which occured between Thursday and Friday this week two of those killed were women who were wives of the same husband with the fifth deceased being a member of the local vigilante.

Several others who were passengers in a commercial vehicle traveling to Kontagora were also injured during the attack by the bandits.

The injured have been admitted at both the Mariga and Kontagora general hospitals.

It was gathered that the invasion by the bandits who rode on several motorcycles started at about 10 pm on Thursday and continued till the early hours of Friday.

According to eyewitnesses who were commuters in vehicles that made detour as a result of the attack the bandits blocked the highway and started shooting sporadically.

It was learnt a few hours before they blocked the road the bandits had invaded some villages close to Kwampani Bobi during which several herds of cattle.

“The bandits were so daring to the extent they did not care if security operatives were around the area” the eyewitness said.

However it was learnt that men of the local vigilante were deployed to counter the bandits leading to neutralisation of some of the bandits.

It was gathered that the bandits were bold enough to take away the corpses of their men that died in the counter attack by the vigilante.

State Police Command Public Relations Officer Niger State Police Command DSP Wasiu Abiodun could not be reached for confirmation of the story as he did not pick his cell phone.

The Director General of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency NSEMA Alhaji Ibrahim Ahmed Inga when contacted by THISDAY said the Agency has heard about the incident but “ I don’t have any details for now”.