Gunmen on Wednesday attacked two communities in Niger State, killing 37 people.
In what seemed a reprisal, the attack comes on the heels of the killing of scores of gunmen suspected to be terrorising the two communities by special hunters and local vigilance group members.
The gunmen launched the attack on Nakuna and Wurukuchi communities when the villagers were on their farm.
The entire houses in Nakuna community with a population of about 200 were burnt down by the gunmen who invaded the community in search of local vigilantes.
According to Yahya Mota who lost 10 members of his family during the attack, about 20 other bodies were discovered in the bush.
“After the attack on Nakuna community, we discovered that 10 people from one family were killed and we later found the bodies of 20 other people in the bush.
“Also in Wurukuchi, four members of one family were killed on their farm,” he said.
He further revealed that other than the houses that were burnt, the gunmen also burnt down food barns in the communities before leaving.
“This people didn’t only kill our people and burn down our houses, they burnt down all the food barns in before leaving,” he said.
He added that during the search for members of the vigilance group and local hunters, the gunmen abducted three of the special hunters.
The 75 year old Mota said six children and four others who came to assist them to harvest their farm produce were killed in a terrible manner, adding that their hands were tied to their backs before they were shot.
When contacted, the state Commissioner of police, Monday Kuryas, who confirmed the incident, said the police is yet to ascertain the actual number of people killed during the attack.
He added that that security personnels have been deployed to the affected communities to restore normalcy.
