From John Adams, Minna
There is no moment of 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 latest incident occurred on Thursday night when the gunmen, riding on over 30 motorcycles with two in each motorcycle and heavily armed, stormed the small farming communities at about 11:00pm.
It was gathered that the entire Kawo village has been sacked by the gunmen, leaving the town like a ghost village.
A source close to Allawa community told Sunday sun on telephone that two people who wanted to escape to 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 quota.
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 to the journey due to her condition, her two year old son was taken long by the gunmen.
“The entire Tungan Bako and Kawo communities are now deserted, everybody have left the communities. The situation is very serious”, our source stated.
However with barely 24 hours after the incident, the gunmen have demanded N70million as 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 TaskForce has been deployed to the communities and are currently on the trail of the gunmen with a view to rescue the kidnapped victims.
The state police command is yet to issue a 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 recovered well over 500 rustle animals from Shiroro and Munya local government areas.