Just In : Terrorists !nvade Niger community, r@ze houses, foodstuffs, other valuables
Apart from houses that were razed, hundreds of livestock and over 150 bags of grains were also set on fire, leaving residents in a dire humanitarian crisis.
Boko Haram terrorists, on Sunday, invaded Allawa, a garrison town in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State, razing over 30 houses, foodstuffs, livestock and other valuables.
Residents told PREMIUM TIMES that the terrorists who were chanting “Allahu Akbar” as they wrecked the town, came in around 08:35 p.m. and began house-to-house raids.
The terrorists, according to locals, operated for about 30 minutes before military operatives stationed in the town confronted them.
One of the houses razed by the terrorists / PREMIUM TIMES
One of the houses razed by the terrorists / PREMIUM TIMES
However, there was no casualty from both sides. No death of residents has been recorded, although, some of them have been missing since the incident.
“The attack was very serious but we thank the soldiers for responding on time,” Yahuza Allawa, a resident, said. “If not for that, the terrorists would have killed a lot of people.”
Some of the livestock razed / PREMIUM TIMES
Some of the livestock razed / PREMIUM TIMES
Counting losses
Apart from houses that were razed, hundreds of livestock and over 150 bags of grains were also set on fire, leaving residents in a dire humanitarian crisis.
Timothy Gwadabe, a peasant farmer, was among those whose belongings were razed by the terrorists.
Locals pick the remnant of foodstuffs set on fire by the terrorists/ PREMIUM TIMES
“They burnt my houses and everything inside including 30 bags of beans and 20 bags of maize,” he told PREMIUM TIMES.
At press time, residents were still trying to estimate their losses.
Before last night’s attack
The terrorists have been wreaking havoc in surrounding villages before invading Allawa on Sunday, PREMIUM TIMES gathered.
Last Friday, they attacked a mining site near the town, killing two artisanal miners — Yahaya Adamu and Zaharaddeen Nabuzuwa.
That same day, they attempted to invade Allawa around 8:30 p.m. but were repelled by the military operatives in the garrison town.
The following day, they invaded Samunaka and Unguwar Sarkin Noma villages killing three locals and destroying livestock and houses.
On Sunday afternoon, the terrorists besieged a nearby village, Kaliya Pangu, forcing residents to flee to Allawa where they later carried out a deadly attack in the evening.
PREMIUM TIMES had earlier reported how the terrorists took over the Allawa-Pandogari road, where they killed and abducted locals, especially women and children.
They also plotted explosives on the road, forcing security operatives responding to threats in the axis to close down the road.
However, the Niger State Commissioner for Homeland Security, Garba Mohammed, a retired major-general, told PREMIUM TIMES “coordinated efforts” were in progress to address the worsening situation.
