Tuesday night was hellish for residents of Allawa community in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State as gunmen invaded the community gunning down any human in sight and setting ablaze houses.
At the end, a traditional ruler, his younger brother, a police Inspector and 33 other people were murdered in cold blood. It was gathered the invaders also set more than 25 houses on fire and injured scores of others before fleeing into the bush. The operation was said to have lasted about two hours with the villagers helpless.
The Daily Times also gathered that the attackers, who operated with dangerous weapons including machine guns, were believed to be Fulani herdsmen. But unconfirmed source also said the attackers could be runaway Boko Haram members who were dislodged from the Sambisa forest in the ongoing operation by the Nigerian Military to liberate the North East from the clutches of insurgents.
Several of the villagers are now displaced as a result of the attack.
It was not known why the village was attacked by the gunmen as there had not been any friction between members of the community and Fulani herdsmen in the locality.
Niger State Police Public Relations Officer, Bala Elikana, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), who confirmed the incident, expressed shock and sadness at the loss of innocent lives.
Elikana, however, said that the command has not confirmed the number of casualty but said a policeman was among those killed, adding that the incident happened in the night and because of lack of communication between Allawa and other parts of the state, distress call could not reach security agencies on time.
According to him, Commissioner of Police in the state, 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.
It would be recalled that the Nigerian Army has been on the ground in the Shiroro Local Government Area battling with cattle rustlers.
Only last week, three people were arrested in connection with such crime while 184 heads of cattle and 83 sheep were recovered from rustlers and handed over to the Chairman Munya Local Government Area, Abdulkadir Mohammed Bida, to give to the original owners.
