Gunmen kill 8, sack senator David’s community

Barely one week after armed bandits abducted two expatriates and six others working for former Senator David Umaru, armed men suspected to be bandits have attacked Umaru’s community, Kaure, Kwaki Ward in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State.

The bandits killed eight other villagers in the attack, which occurred in the early hours of Sunday, 22nd December, 2018.

Over 100 members of the community, including women and children, were said to have fled to safety.

The councilor representing the ward, Malam Jafaru Kwaki, told newsmen on phone yesterday afternoon that the bandits stormed the community on motorcycles with three persons on each at about 7am shooting sporadically into the air.

He said: “I just received the sad development of an invasion again of a community in my area by armed men dressed in black. This is another deadly attack after two expatriates and six members of the community were abducted and are yet to regain their freedom almost 10 days now.

“As has been their manner, they stormed the community on motorcycles, shooting. From the information at my disposal, eight people have lost their lives in the attack, which lasted hours.

“We cannot ascertain the number of people injured in the attack yet because many escaped into the bushes with bullet wounds but we were able to move 15 who sustained various degrees of injuries to health centres.”

The attack in the community is the 15th in the last 10 months with an estimated 200 people so far killed while about 5,000 others, mostly women and children, have been forced to abandon their homes. The last attack was the abduction of two foreigners and six others in Erena, Shiroro local government area.