Residents ‘flee into forest’ as gunmen attack Niger community

Many people are feared to have been killed following an attack by gunmen on Galkogo village in Shiroro LGA of Niger state.

Speaking with TheCable on the development, Jibrin Alawa, spokesperson of youth association in the state, said the attack occurred at about 3pm and lasted till 6pm on Saturday.

Alawa said about 200 persons invaded the village on motorcycles, holding different kind of weapons and shooting sporadically.

He said the attackers razed many houses and burnt down a vigilante camp in the village.

“Yes, there was an attack on Galadima Kogo village today. It happened around 3pm. They came in large number and were shooting sporadically. People were running but some people were shot,” he said.

“An eyewitness told me that before he left the village, they recorded about seven deaths and the terrorists burnt down the vigilante camp. They attacked around 3pm and left at about 6pm in the evening.

“They came in large number of about 200 persons on motorcycle.

“You know this kind of attack, they have been targeting that village because there is a very strong vigilante group there. It happened that those vigilantes were mobilised to Kontagora for a special assignment about four days ago, so, they took advantage of that and attacked the community. The vigilante group are currently back in the village.”

According to Ismail Mohammed, spokesperson of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Shiroro LGA, some residents are currently taking refuge in Kuta Gwada town.

“There are villages before Galkogo but they came straight down to Galkogo to attack us. Currently, we are trying to see if we can take trucks to the forest to rescue some of our people,” he said.

“A lot of people ran into the forest. Some people jumped into the water while some were just running to God knows where. They had guns. They came on plenty motorcycles, shooting sporadically and destroyed many houses.

“We know the government is doing its best but our people have no peace of mind. We have taken some people to Kuta while some people have escaped to Gwada town.”

When contacted, Wasiu Abiodun, the state police spokesman, asked TheCable to reach out to the Nigerian Army for comment.

However, Onyema Nwachukwu, army spokesperson, was unreachable for comment at the time of this report.