Gunmen attack Niger communities, kill police officer, civilian; abduct others – Residents

Armed men Saturday evening attacked Kadna and Naknuwape, suburbs of Gwada in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State, killing at least two people including a police officer.

Residents said a group of gunmen invaded their communities shooting indiscriminately while residents were breaking their Ramadan fast.

The spokesperson of the Coalition of Shiroro Associations (COSA), Salis Sabo, in a statement to PREMIUM TIMES, said the criminals were increasingly waxing stronger, reaching the Tapila Junction of Gwada town, a community thought to be safe from attacks.

“At least two persons have been killed. One policeman and one civilian in Tapila,” the group said in the statement.

The gunmen reportedly abducted two persons – the son of an official of an electricity company and a young girl whose identity was not disclosed. They looted a business centre and stole mobile phones, Mr Sabo added.

He said communities attacked by the gunmen include: Chiri, Kwakwa, Jewi and Kadn. The communities are only a few kilometres from Gwada LGA.

“The terrorists continue to expand their tentacles even to the towns that were considered relatively peaceful. We now live at the mercy of terrorists. The government has failed woefully,” the group said.

The police spokesperson in Niger State, Wasiu Abiodun, did not respond to our reporter’s enquiry about the incidents on Sunday morning.

Attacks by armed groups have continued in the North-west region and neighbouring Niger State despite repeated assurances by the government to address the problem.

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At least 151,380 people, mostly peasant farmers, have been displaced, with unspecified numbers of people killed by the gunmen, locally called bandits, in the last two years in Niger State, the state government said.

The displaced persons were registered in the frontline 13 local government areas of the state, with the Rafi council area, neighbouring Zamfara and Kaduna, topping the chart with 28,987 displaced persons.

In Shiroro Local Government Area, where the latest incident happened, over 27,678 persons have been displaced in the last two years and several others killed.