Gunmen suspected to be armed bandits in their hundreds at the weekend attacked some neighbouring communities to Gwada town in Shiroro local government area of Niger State, killing no fewer than about four civilians including a five-year-old girl and one Mobile Police Operative.
A yet-to-be-ascertained number of persons were said to have sustained varying degrees of gun shot injuries.
Several herds of cattle were said to have been rustled and properties estimated at thousands of Naira were said to have been stolen from the affected communities by the hoodlums.
The little girl was said to have been hit by a stray bullet in an encounter between the police/vigilantes and the fleeing bandits who were said to have made frantic efforts to invade Gwada town.
Eyewitneses said the terrorists dispossessed some victims of their mobile telephones at charging shop and jerry cans of fuel from black marketers
The incident which was said to have happened last Saturday around 4-5 pm at Tapila junction and Kadna community just after the railway crossing and Naknuwape, forced residents of the suburbs to scamper for safety, with several of them heading towards Gwada town.
Malam Bello Ibrahim, an indigene of Gwada town and co-converner of Concerned Shiroro Youths informed journalists in an interview by telephone that the bandits came through Tapila junction to Kadna, some few kilometres away to Gwada and rustled cows believed to have been owned by an individual and also robbed petroleum black marketers of several jerry cans of petrol.
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He said that the bandits who were armed with sophisticated weapons were suspected to be parts of those who were camped in communities around Galadiman Kogo, Guni, Kuchi, Dogon layi and adjoining harmlets in the council areas.
Meanwhile, the Commiasioner for Local Government, Chieftancy Affairs and Internal Security, Mr. Emmanuel Umar, said an Air Force fighter jet had been deployed insantanously by the state government in conjunction with the heads of security agencies in the state to the affected communities/ troubled spots to comb the areas.
He noted that that the invasion of the affected communities by the armed bandits/ Boko Haram insurgency groups had indeed taken place but insisted that the affected areas were Kadna and Tapila junction, outskirt of Gwada and not actually inside Gwada town.
The commissioner stated that he will soon release a statement on the attack while assuring residents that goverment was working closely with security agencies in the state to prevent future reccurrence of the unfortunate incident .
A resident of Gwada, Solomon Adnadu Zakka told journalists in a brief interview by telephone that the suspected terrorists had initially encountered stiff resistance from a detachment of police operatives in collaboration with some vigilantee members prior to the arrival of military men, saying three of the suspected terrorists were neutralized in a superior gun fire.
“The gallant police operative who was killed didn’t go down alone. He went down with three members of the terror gang and we are grateful to him,” he stated.
He noted that a little girl around five years old was shot dead probably by a stray bullet, adding that she was rushed to the hospital and was confirmed dead later by medical personnel at the hospital.
The source however said that he could not confirm the number of persons that were abducted by the bandits.
Luqman Erena, an eyewitness said the bandits were given a hot chase later by ‘Yan-sa-kai, (a local vigilante group) but could not recover the rustled cows owned by a prominent member of the community.
He said there was still no presence of soldiers in Gwada as of the time he was speaking to our correspondent, stressing that among those who were also killed was a mentally challenged member of the community.
He thereby appealed to government not to allow Gwada fall into the hands of the terrorists, adding that several persons in the areas were living in fears and there was likely to be build up of massive humanitarian crisis.
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