TheCable

Three persons were reportedly killed when suspected bandits launched simultaneous attacks on three communities in Rafi local government area of Niger state on Saturday.

TheCable gathered from residents that many people were also abducted during the attacks, which lasted for about two hours.

The three affected villages are Yakira, Gugu and Karaku — all surrounding Kagara where bandits abducted dozens of schoolchildren from Government Science College, last week.

The students, as well as other kidnapped staff members and their relatives, were all released on Saturday.

The Niger police command did not immediately respond to an enquiry sent by TheCable

Two villagers, who confirmed the attacks to TheCable, said the bandits “distributed themselves” when they invaded Rafi LGA on Friday night.

Yunusa Acha, a resident of Kagara, told TheCable that some of the survivors who arrived in the town told them that the exact number of kidnapped persons was not yet known.

“Yesterday night, the bandits attacked one village called Karaku, which is very close to here in Kagara. The dead bodies they counted so far are three, and they are still looking for many in the bush,” he said.

“They also packed some people away. This was happening till around 2am.

“The same night, they entered another village called Yakira, and attacked them too. They also attacked Gugu, another village very close to the river on your way to Kagara.

“They were all attacked at the same time. The bandits distributed themselves; they were many in number. The exact number of those packed is not known yet, but we heard they took a very huge number of people.”

Ahmed Yusuf, another villager, said the bandits were first sighted on Friday evening.

“Yesterday, it was certain they will attack because we were informed around 5pm that the number of motorcycles that came out around that Madaka road was about 40,” he said.

“So, we knew they were going to attack, but the specific locations were not known.”