About 35 persons are believed to have been killed on Tuesday evening
by gunmen suspected to be cattle rustlers in Shiroro Local
Government
Area of Niger, the police and community sources said.
A village
head in the area, who pledged anonymity said the victims included the
district Head of Allawa in Shiroro, a police inspector and 33 others.
The
community leader said the attackers, numbering about 40, used machine
guns and other dangerous weapons, adding that, he believes the attackers
are Fulani herdsmen.
He said the operation lasted some two hours during which the attackers set more than 25 houses ablaze and injured many.
The village head said many of the villagers had been displaced as a result of the incident.
Confirming
the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer in Niger, ASP Bala
Elkana, said that the command had yet to confirm the number of
casualties.
Elkana said a policeman was among those killed and added that the incident occurred in the night.
He
said because of the lack of communication between Allawa and other
parts of the state, the security agencies could not respond on time.
Elkana
said “the Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Abubakar Marafa, has
dispatched the Divisional Police Officer in Kagara and the Police Area
Commander in Minna to the troubled village to assess the situation and
bring back a report.”
NAN reports that the Nigerian Army has been battling with cattle rustlers in Shiroro Local Government Area.
The
Army recently recovered 184 cows and 83 sheep from suspected cattle
rustlers and handed them over to the Chairman of Munya Local Government,
Alhaji Abdulkadir Bida, to enable their owners to claim them.
Source: PM News
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