Bandits raid Niger village, kill one, abduct 15, steal valuables

Bandits have killed one person and abducted 15 other villagers, mostly women, in the Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State.

The bandits were said to have invaded Batagari village in the Maikujeri District of Rafi LGA on motorcycles.

A Nigerien soldier stands guard in a street near a market in Banibangou, a town in the west of Niger, on November 6, 2021, where 69 people died in a jihadist ambush on November 2, 2021. (Photo by BOUREIMA HAMA / AFP) (Photo by BOUREIMA HAMA/AFP via Getty Images)

PUNCH Metro learnt that the assailants rode into the village as they shot sporadically into the air to instil fear in the villagers.

A source revealed that after causing panic, the bandits went from house to house, stealing valuables.

“After they caused fear and people ran away, they went into people’s houses and started taking whatever they wanted,” the source said.

Our source noted that while ransacking the houses, women were kidnapped to an unknown destination.

“They took away some women they found around and their families have yet to know their whereabouts, neither have they been contacted by the bandits,” he said.

The Niger State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Wasiu Abiodun, could not be reached for comments as of the time of filing this report.