Four people have been killed by bandits who invaded Pandogari Community in Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State.
Nigeriacrime.com learned that besides the murder of the four, scores of the villagers were said to have been abducted and their whereabouts are still unknown.
According to locals, the bandits stormed the community on Sunday and started shooting sporadically to scare the villagers in the afternoon.
Unfortunately, members of the local vigilante who rose to the occasion by confronting the criminals but were overpowered by the sophisticated weapons being used by the bandits.
An eyewitness in the community, Mallam Alfa Ibrahim said that the suspected bandits attacked the community through Hayan Makera, the highway leading to Birnin Gwari local government area of Kaduna state.
According to Ibrahim, the bandits, stormed the community on several motorcycles, each carrying two or three persons wielding dangerous weapons and shooting sporadically into the air.
Ibrahim said, “The vigilantes confronted the hoodlums and as a result of the superior firepower of the bandits, they gunned down three of the vigilante members including their commander and also shot one of the sick kidnapped victims who was unable to move at their pace.
“We got information about the impending attack early and the community informed the military personnel stationed there but before their response, the community came under attack around 2 p.m. on the fateful day which left the commander of the vigilante and two of his comrades and another villager dead.
The community according to him has four entrance routes and only one is manned by a military detachment.
“The terrorists avoided that route and came through one of the routes and were confronted by the vigilantes, Mallam. Alfa but his efforts could not yield positive results,” Ibrahim narrated.