Tragedy struck at the weekend in Niger State as a midnight attack by some suspected cattle rustlers in Angwar Umadi Village in Shiroro Local Government Area of the state left one dead and 15 others with varying degrees of injuries.
Metro gathered that the deceased, a 19-year-old Senior Secondary School (SSS11) student was shot at close range by the heavily-armed rustlers who operated in a Commando-like manner when the young man came out of his father’s house to urinate, unknown to him that the armed bandits were operating.
Metro further learnt that no fewer than about 15 others who tried to find safety in different directions as a result of the invasion of the hoodlums were either shot or inflicted with matchete cuts by the bandits.
They were said to be receiving treatment at one Erena Dispensary.
One of the eyewitnesses, Isaiah Baga, who narrated the incident to Metro, said that the rustlers, numbering about 40, arrived the village at about 12 midnight on Sunday and operated for about an hour.
He further narrated that no fewer than 212 cattle and several goats and sheep were also carted away, along with seven brand new motorcycles.
According to Baga, the attack was coming four days after some armed mobile policemen came to patrol the area, saying that “we have reported the latest attack to the appropriate authorities but we are yet to hear from them”.
It was further learnt that the latest attack on the village was about the 20th in Shiroro Local Government Area, with over 100 people killed in its wake, while over 1,500 cattle and sheep were carted away by the fleeing bandits who were in the habit of escaping into the forest to escape arrest by security personnel.
Further checks revealed that yesterday’s attack was coming 24 hours after the state government had expressed the readiness of the security agencies in the state to tackle the upsurge in cases of kidnapping and cattle rustling in some parts of Rafi and Shiroro Local Governments Areas.
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