Bandits along the Zungeru-Tegina Road in Niger State had on Sunday night launched an onslaught on security personnel killing at least 13 soldiers and several others injured.
It was learnt that the injured personnel are receiving medical attention at IBB Specialist Hospital, Minna due to gunshot injuries.
The senator representing Niger East Senatorial District, Mohammed Sani Musa, had confirmed the incident to Reporters in Abuja on Monday, and appealed to the federal government to dispatch military and security arsenals to the troubled areas to save innocent lives and their property.
“This is a very serious situation happening at a time we are happy that the issue of banditry is subsiding in our various communities in Niger State.
“The federal government should as a matter of urgency, deploy all its arsenal in order to curtail further spread.
“We have been having a reduction in cases of attacks, but now, it appears as if there is a serious escalation of the situation.
“The most alarming situation now is that the attacks look like planned work because the bandits are carrying out their operations simultaneously in many parts of Niger State.
“Government should please, as a matter of urgency, take a drastic action on it and save the lives and property of our people,” he said.
It was learnt that the soldiers were on their way to some communities recently attacked by bandits in Wushishi Local Government Area which forced thousands of farmers to flee to Wushishi and Zungeru.
Also collaborating, convener, Shiroro Concerned Youths, Mr. Sanni Kokki, in a telephone interview with reporters in Abuja, said assailants “ambushed and killed 13 soldiers along the Zungeru-Tegina Road in Madaka Ward of Rafi Local Government Area of the state.”
“As we are talking now, villagers living around the area are all now moving towards Erena.
“This is another problem again because people are being displaced from their traditional homes to unknown destinations. “We are having another humanitarian crisis in our hands with the economic challenges confronting our people,”
Kokki said.Chairman, Shiroro LGA, Akilu Isyaku Kuta, lamented that the security situation in the area had deteriorated in recent times. Meanwhile, the MI-171 Helicopter on a casualty evacuation mission crashed at about 1.00pm on Monday near Chukuba Village in Niger State.
NAF spokesman, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet in a statement did not disclose the number of the officers onboard, but the helicopter is believed to have a capacity of over 20 passengers.
Gabkwet explained that the aircraft had departed Zungeru Primary School enroute Kaduna, but was later discovered to have crashed near Chukuba Village in Shiroro LGA.
NAF spokesman did not state whether or not there were casualties.
He said efforts were still ongoing to rescue the crew and passengers on board the helicopter and preliminary investigations had commenced to determine the cause of the crash.
Veteran journalist and recipient of A.B.C Yola, Reporter of the Year Award (1997), Hassan Umar Shallpella, works with WAP as a Regional Correspondence. He was trained at Institute of Mass Communication and Technology Jos and Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Training School Lagos.He was a News desk Editor and a Correspondent at the Punch newspaper and till 2019, was the Deputy Editor ofThe Scope newspaper.
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