27/11/2025
Bandits have launched another deadly attack in Palaita community, Erena Ward, Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State, abducting 24 people, including pregnant women, from a rice farm.
Sources in the community said the attackers struck at about 2:00 PM on Wednesday while residents were harvesting their crops.
Despite Palaita being only five kilometres from a military base in Erena, the bandits reportedly escaped with the victims before security personnel could respond.
In a separate incident earlier that day, another group of armed men invaded the Kakuru community, also in Erena Ward, where they brutalised a blind resident and severed his right hand after taking a mobile phone from him.
The attackers, who arrived at about 8:00 AM, met only the visually impaired man at home, as other residents had gone to their farms.
The Niger State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Wasiu Abiodun, said efforts were being made to rescue the victims.
The latest attack comes barely a week after gunmen abducted over 300 students and teachers from St. Maryโs Catholic School in Papiri, Niger State, on Friday.
