Armed groups have killed many people, including a father and his son, in separate attacks in Mashegu, Lavun and Wushishi local government areas of Niger State.
Many residents were displaced in the attacks which occurred between Friday and Saturday.
Residents said that in Mashegu Local Government Area, the villages attacked were Sahon-Rami, Igbede, Chekaku, Ubegi, Maishankafi and Poshi.
The media aide to Mashegu local council chairperson, Mohammed Isah, told Daily Trust newspaper that the Chief of Staff to the council chairperson, Umar Ubegi, and his father were killed during the attack.
He said the village head of Poshi community was also killed as well as seven others in Sahon-Rami and Maishankafi.
“They moved from one village to the other on motorcycles, killing and kidnapping people. They also rustled cows belonging to villagers. About 13 communities were sacked and people have fled.
“Tension is high in our local government now. These people have been operating since Friday. But only one village was attacked on Friday which was Sahon-Rami. The remaining villages were attacked today (Saturday),” he told the newspaper.
In Lavun council area, ten villages were reportedly attacked, leaving no fewer than three persons dead while three others were kidnapped.
The villages attacked in Lavun Local Government Area were Egbako, Dabban, Kupa, Ndaruka, Tsogi, Mawogi, Yemi, Managi, Kanko and Gogaga.
A resident of Egbako, one of the communities attacked, Yakubu Mohammed, said “they started the operation around 12 p.m., moving from one village to another unchallenged.”
For now, we have only discovered the dead bodies of three persons. They also went away with three others, he told the newspaper.
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The latest attack in the state followed that of Shiroro Local Government Area where four officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) were killed by suspected Boko Haram terrorists at Galadiman Kogo community after they ran over on an explosive. PREMIUM TIMES reported how the terrorists also killed six residents of the town during an earlier night raid last Sunday.
The known phone contact of the police spokesperson in Niger State, Wasiu Abiodun, did not connect Saturday and Sunday morning to comment on the latest incidents.
Attacks by armed groups have continued in the North-west and in Niger State despite repeated assurances by the government to address the challenge.
President Muhammadu Buhari recently directed the military to respond robustly to killings and kidnappings by bandits in Niger State.
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