Armed bandits have reportedly staged a deadly attack in Kotonkoro in Mariga local government area of Niger state, killing more than 20 vigilantes.
Daily Trust cited BBC Hausa as reporting that the attack occurred on Monday, March 22, after the vigilantes engaged a group of bandits in the area.
Narrating the incident, Ibrahim Ilyasu, a member of the State House of Assembly from Mariga, said:
“On Monday, there was a clash between vigilantes and bandits and they pursued them to a nearby bush to fight them. Unfortunately, the vigilantes were killed and the bandits refused to allow the community to retrieve the bodies.
“I can’t say the actual number of people killed because they refused to grant access to pick the bodies, but today (Wednesday, March 24), soldiers went to the forest to collect bodies of 16 persons. But that’s not all of them because there are still more people they couldn’t identify as their bodies were dismembered.”
