Bandits Kill Village Head, Kidnap Several  Others in Niger

Laleye Dipo in Minna

After weeks of respite bandits have, again, struck in the Zagzaga community in the Kabula ward of Munya Local Government of Niger State.

During the deadly assault, which took place on Tuesday night, the village head Malam Usman Hussaini, was  murdered while scores of villagers mostly women and children were abducted.

In the stampede that followed the invasion by the terrorists many other villagers were injured and are now receiving treatment either at the General Hospital in Sarkinpawa town, headquarters of the local government or at the residences of traditionalists.

According to a report from the area the whole town has now been deserted leaving the bandits to hold sway there.

It was said that the bandits  numbering over 50 stormed the community immediately the villagers finished offering  the last Muslim prayer for the day shooting sporadically with some of them also wielding machetes,  knives and other dangerous weapons.

It was when they stormed the residence of the village head that they dragged him out and shot him to death, a reliable source informed THISDAY.

The source said all the shout for help by the villagers did not yield any result because there were no security people around.

Efforts to confirm the story from the State Police Command Public Relations Officer (PRO) DSP Wasiu Abiodun was not successful as he was not responding to calls made to his cell phone.

However, the overseeing Director General Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) Mr Salihu Garba, confirmed that “We have received reports like that we are waiting for our man on the ground to give us the details.

Garba said after receiving the report from the field a “ report will be sent to the state government.”

In October 2021 bandits struck the same Zagzaga community kidnapping over 67 villagers some of the villagers were released only early this year.

Before the latest incident most of the villagers were in Internally Displaced People’s Camp and just started returning to their ancestral homes according to the report.