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From John Adams and Yunusa Umar, Minna
Hell was let loose in Niger State on Sunday and Monday morning as no fewer than seven communities across two local government areas of the state came under heavy attacks from gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram, leaving the people with tales of woos.
The communities that came under attack from the gunmen are: Kurumi, Samunaka, Bassa, and Kwaki in Shiroro local and Dangunu, Katerma and Pai in Munya local government area of the state.
In Kwaki, Samuaka and Kurumi communities, no fewer than 30 houses, 21 motorcycles and over 150 bags of different assorted grains which included :maize, soya beans and rice were burnt down by the rampaging gunmen who a source close to the communities said numbered well over 50 and heavily armed.
Three people were killed in Bassa village, while no fewer than 15 women were abducted and taken away by the gunmen who our source said invaded the communities at about 8:00pm and shot sporadically into the air to announce their arrival.
The gunmen were said to have camped in a nearby village before storming the communities in what our source said was a retaliatory mission after the killing of their members in large numbers by the joint security taskforce in the area about three weeks ago.
Jibrin Allawa, a community leader,who spoke to Daily Sun, pointed out that the invasion by the gunmen lasted for several hours as they set fire on houses and food balms as the people scramble for safety.
According to him:”By 8 pm, they were already in the town shooting sporadically and setting houses ablaze, including food storages. I can confirm to you that over 30 houses and 150 bags of different grains were set on fire and uncountable cattle were also rustled by the gunmen”, he said.
It was gathered that the gunmen had wreaked havoc across the three communities and took to their heels with the abducted victims before the arrival of soldiers that are stationed at Government Secondary School.
According to Allawa,they couldn’t arrive the scenes on time because they had to wait for reinforcement due to the numerical strength of the gunmen.
In another development gunmen said to be numbering over 30, riding on motorcycles on Monday morning, invaded Dangunu, Pai and Katerma and abducted 50 people across the three communities.
According to our source, while 30 people, mostly women, were kidnapped from Dangunu, 15 others were taken captive from Pai and an unspecified number were taken away from the Katerma community.
According to a source close to Dangunu community, a ransom bearer who had gone to deliver an undisclosed amount of money for those that had been in captivity for over one month now, was also taken into captivity.
The Communities have been asked by the gunmen to bring some items, which included recharge card worth thousands of naira, energy drinks, soft drinks, cigarettes, both bottles and bags of sachet water before they can listen to them for negotiation for ransom
“They also asked us to bring 50 litres of petrol for them. Those that they kidnapped, including women have spent about a month in the bush with them”, our source added.
