The village head of Madaka, Alhaji Saleh Ahmad Kakuri, and Commander Iko, the deputy commander of the vigilantes in the area under the Madaka District of Rafi local government area of Niger state have been killed by bandits.
The bandits, it was learnt, also invaded Majanjan District of the same local government Thursday afternoon during which Alhaji Salihu Immahuri, the Maianguwan (village head) of Anguwan Bala and his two wives were seized and killed.
It is also reported that Adamu Immahuri, a brother to the deceased ruler, his four wives, Shehu Salihu and Jamilu Isah were among the 30 bodies that had been recovered so far from the communities after the invasion of the bandits.
A traditional ruler from the area who spoke on condition of anonymity told our correspondent that “over 30 bodies have been recovered by the villagers.”
“The bandits attacked the communities at about 3.30pm on Thursday and operated for hours without response from security agencies. The bandits operated for as long as they wanted without challenge from the army or police,” the traditional ruler said.
Meanwhile, the district head of Madaka, Alhaji Isah Bawale, on Friday confirmed the incident in telephone interview with journalists.
He said the attack occurred around 3:00pm on Thursday when the communities market was in full session resulting in huge casualties.
It was gathered further that over 50 houses, including commercial shops, a number of cars and motorcycles were burnt down during the attack.
A witness said, “The suspected armed men broke into the village shooting sporadically, killing their victims and burning down the market. They also abducted unverified numbers of the villagers.”
Some residents who spoke on the incident said there was a similar attack by bandits on the same communities a few years ago.
“Since that attack when the district head was killed, there has not been security presence in that communities leading to bandits attacking without challenges from any quarters,” they said.
Our correspondent reports that neither the Niger state Police Command nor the state government through the Commissioner for Security, Gen. Bello Abdullahi Mohammed (retd.) had reacted to the incident at the time of filing in this report.
