Armed bandits have allegedly stormed Gwada community, in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State in their hundreds, resulting to the death of a police officer and four other persons.
Dozens of villagers were said to have been kidnapped and unconfirmed number of cattle whisked away by the gunmen.
The incident, it was gathered, occurred in the area about 20km away from Minna, the State capital, on Saturday afternoon.
The other persons that lost their lives in the attack include two women and two children, all members of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp, taking refuge at the Gwada IDPs camp displaced from Zumba area of the Council.
A source in Gwada revealed that the victims lost their lives when the vehicle they were traveling in was shot at by the bandits in their bid to stop it.
However, the source said the policeman died during a gun fire exchange between the Joint Security Taskforce and the gunmen.
According to the source,” during the fierce battle by the two sides, one police personnel was killed, as well as one of the gunmen. Many of the bandits ran away with bullet wounds and six motorcycles belonging to the gunmen have been recovered”.
Efforts to get confirmation of the State Commissioner for Local Government and Internal Security, Mr Emmanuel Bagna Umar failed as he could not be reached as of the time of filing this report.
However, the State Police Command, through the Public Relations Officer, PRO, DSP Wasiu Abiodun confirmed the incident, saying that information was received that armed bandits attacked the Kaduna village via Gwada, Shiroro LGA yesterday.
According to Abiodun, “the police tactical team and other security agencies, with vigilante were mobilized to the area and the hoodlums were repelled”.
However, he explained that details of the incident are still sketchy, while reinforcement has been dispatched to Gwada and that normalcy had been restored
Also, senior official of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, who would not want his name mentioned, confirmed the attack.
