John Adams, Minna
Barely two days after President Muhammadu Buhari read the riot act to Service Chiefs over the deteriorating security situation in the northern parts of the country, armed bandits again struck in Niger communities, killing one person and leaving five others with serious bullets wounds.
Two elderly people were also kidnapped and whisked away on their motorcycles.
The bandits said to be over 30 in number, arrived in the villages around 9:30 pm when the people were preparing to retire to bed, and in their usual manner started shooting sporadically to announce their arrival.
Women and children fled for their lives as they ran in different directions, and into the bush where majority of them slept.
One man identified as Audu Makeri was, however, not lucky as the bandits shot him at a close range when he emerged from his room.
Five other members of the affected villages sustained gunshot injuries when they tried to escape to safety. Two of them are currently at the Minna General Hospital receiving treatment.
The villages affected in the latest attacks are Zhazhayidna, Kpayituko, Iboru, Ndayinkwo, Mbokwo, Kudodo and Affarpi, all in Shiroro Local Government Area of the state.
A member of one of the affected villages who spoke to Sunday Sun on telephone Friday evening said the incident occurred Thursday night, adding that about 150 cattle were rustled and two people kidnapped.
The attack came barely one week after armed bandits attacked and killed two policemen that were detailed to provide security to some engineers at Shiroro Hydroelectricity Dam who were on routine maintenance work on high tension transmission cables at Kusasu village in the same Shiroro Local Government Area of the state.
It would be recalled that worried by the continued onslaught of bandits on communities in Shiroro, Rafi and Munya local government areas, the Senator representing Niger East senatorial district, Alhaji Sani Musa warned that if the government failed to address the security challenges in his constituency, they would be forced to defend themselves.