Six Young Girls Abducted, Vigilante Killed As Gunmen Invade Community In Niger

At least six young women aged 15 to 17 have allegedly been abducted by armed men in the Pandogari Community, located in Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State.

It was gathered that the armed assailants stormed their neighbourhood in the early hours of Wednesday, resulting in the death of a vigilante named Aliyu Aminu and the abduction of the girls.

Community members reported that the invaders entered from the Birnin Gwari direction, passing through the Mamman Kontagora Technical College in Pandogari.

Sources who spoke to Daily Trust indicated that the abducted girls were taken to Kwangel Forest.

One source mentioned that the bandits went from home to home during the night raid.

He pointed out that the attack on Wednesday night was the third such incident in just one week.

He stressed that the assailants have been targeting the community since the negotiations with the Kaduna State Government began.

The talks and agreements with the residents of Birnin Gwari, according to one of the sources, do not seem to benefit them.

“These attacks resumed since the day Kaduna State negotiated with them in Birnin Gwari. Last week, they came and kidnapped people including the village head. They came twice before the last Wednesday night,” he said.

The Chairman, Rafi LGA, Ayuba Usman Katako, confirmed the attacks to reporters saying that Niger and Kaduna state governments needed to work together to ensure that the two states are safe.

“It was true that bandits attacked the Pandogari community. In fact, that was not the only attack in the last two weeks. The Wednesday attack was the third one.

“In the previous attacks, they only succeeded in kidnapping some people in some Villages but on Wednesday, a life was lost before they kidnapped 8 people but 4 of them eventually escaped,” he explained.

The representative for Rafi Constituency in the Niger State House of Assembly, Zubairu Isma’ila Zannan Kwangoma, brought forth a motion of urgent public significance during a session of the House, highlighting that within a span of one month, terrorists had abducted 122 individuals and taken the lives of two in Rafi LGA.

He identified the communities most impacted as Pandogari, Gidigori, Ringa, and Kawo, emphasizing that these areas have endured significant economic struggles and devastation of their agricultural resources following their displacement.