From John Adams, Minna
There is no respite in Niger State over the activities of gunmen who have sustained their attacks on communities across the state, the latest being the invasion of Tungan Bako and Kawo communities in Rafi Local Government Area where about 100 people were abducted.
The incident occurred on Thursday night when over 30 heavily-armed gunmen riding two each on a motorcycle, stormed the small farming communities about 11:00pm.
It was gathered that the entire Kawo village was sacked by the gunmen. A source close to Allawa community told Sunday sun on telephone that two people who wanted to escape into the bush were shot dead by the gunmen. The operation, the source said, lasted till 3:30am on Friday morning without any resistance from any quarters.
According to our source, a heavily-pregnant woman and her two-year old son were among the abductees, but while the woman was later set free midway into the journey due to her condition, her two-year old son was taken along by the gunmen.
“The entire Tungan Bako and Kawo communities are now deserted, everybody has left the communities. The situation is very serious,” our source stated.
However, barely 24 hours after the incident, the gunmen demanded N70million ransom for the release of their victims.
“They have called us that we should bring N70million as ransom before the people can be release. That is all I can say for now,” he added.
Meanwhile a Joint Security Task Force has been deployed to the communities and is currently on the trail of the gunmen with a view to rescuing the kidnapped victims.
The state police command is yet to issue any statement on the latest incident which is coming barely four days after security agents recorded a major breakthrough in their operation against the gunmen, killing about 70 of them in one week and recovering well over 500 rustled animals from Shiroro and Munya local government areas.