Bandits attack military camp in Niger state, set vehicles on fire

 

A military camp in Zazzaga community of Munya Local Government Area of Niger State in the early hours of Wednesday April 21, was attacked by bandits said to be numbering about 60 and heavily armed. 

No soldier was killed in this latest attack which came barely three weeks after bandits attacked a Security Joint Task Force base in Allawa and Basa in Shiroro Local Government Area of the state, killing five soldiers and a Mobile Policeman. 

Punch reported that the bandits stormed the community at about 4.00am and shared themselves into three groups. While one group made their way straight to the military camp located at the Junior Secondary School about 500 meters from the town where they engaged the soldiers in a gun battle, the second group laid ambush on the major road leading to the community.

The third group were said to have made their way to the community to prevent any reinforcements from the community vigilantes and the youths.

Daily Trust also reported that a source said that after about two hours of gun exchange from 4:00am to 6:00am, the soldiers ran out of ammunition and made a retreat. After the soldiers beat a retreat, the bandits stormed the camp, set military vehicles on fire and went away with another while they also burnt the food store in the camp.

The source said; 

“I think the bandits might have used the Military Vehicle to evacuate the injured ones and possibly some dead ones among them because the Soldiers really fought them until they ran out of ammunition.

“The bandits came around 4:00am and since that time, we were hearing gun shots till about 6:00am.”

A soldier identified as the RSM of the camp has reportedly been declared missing; his whereabouts are still unknown as of the time of filing this report.