By Chima Phillips-
Gun men escaping America’s recent onslaught in Nigeria have killed over 30 people and injured several others in a remote village, barely a week after American bombed 115 terrorist sites in the northern part of the country.
The men stormed Kasuwan-Daji, in Niger state’s Borgu area, and opened fire on residents on Saturday evening.
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They also destroyed the local market and several houses, Niger state police spokesman Wasiu Abiodun said in a statement.
Mr Abiodun said “over 30 victims lost their lives” while at least two residents put the death toll at 37 and said it could be higher as some people remained missing as of Sunday. Reverend Friar Stephen Kabirat, spokesman for the Catholic Church of Kontagora Diocese, where the attack happened, told local media that the gunmen killed more than 40 people and said some of those abducted were children..
Witnesses said the gunmen arrived on motorcycles and opened fire indiscriminately. They said the violence was part of a series of raids that began on Friday in the nearby villages Agwarra and Borgu
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“Women and children were not spared,” said Dauda Shakulle, who was wounded while fleeing. “There has been no presence of security forces since the attacks began. We are currently recovering corpses.”
One person, who asked not to be named for fear of his safety, said the gunmen had been lurking around nearby communities for around a week before the attack, adding that locals are afraid to recover the bodies. “If we don’t see any security, how can we go there?” he added.
Saturday’s attack in Kasuwan-Daji village occurred a stone’s throw away from the Papiri community, where more than 300 schoolchildren and their teachers were kidnapped from a Catholic school in November. The attackers who raided Kasuwan-Daji arrived from the National Park Forest along Kabe district, according to the police.
Bola Tinubu, the president of Nigeria, has called for the attackers to be hunted down, saying they were terrorists “suspected to be fleeing from Sokoto and Zamfara following the United States’ air strike”.
“I have also directed that all abducted victims be urgently rescued and that security operations around vulnerable communities, especially near forests, be intensified,” Tinubu said in a statement.
The attack came weeks after gunmen seized more than 300 children and staff of a Catholic school in the state in central Nigeria. Those victims were released after nearly a month in captivity.
Insurgency levels in Nigeria has long been far beyond acceptable levels, with bandits indiscriminately attacking groups of people, and conducting kidnappings for ransom. The mayhem that occurs throughout most of the northern parts of Nigeria has become somewhat Satanic in nature, as evil gun men just appear and disappear, committing serious atrocities at will, and rarely being held to account for the cruel deeds.
The intervention of U.S military forces a few weeks ago brought a glimmer of hope to frightened and distressed Nigerians, but this evil attack so soon after that bombing has revived fears that terror days might be back. Following the December attack by Trump forces, the U.S Secretary of State said there would be more bombing to come.
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