A fresh wave of violent attacks has hit Niger State, as armed bandits on Wednesday abducted 24 farmers from Palaita community in Erena Ward, Shiroro Local Government Area, and mutilated a blind man in a separate incident within the same district.
According to local sources, the bandits stormed a rice farm in Palaita at about 2:00 p.m., where residents were harvesting their crops for the season. Witnesses said the attackers rounded up the farmers—among them pregnant women—and marched them into the forest.
Despite Palaita being located just five kilometres from a military base in Erena, the assailants reportedly escaped with the captives before help could arrive.
Earlier that morning, at approximately 8:00 a.m., another group of armed men raided Kakuru community, also in Erena Ward. Only one resident—a visually impaired man—was at home when the attackers arrived, as others had left early for the farms. The intruders allegedly demanded a mobile phone, which the victim insisted belonged to a neighbour. Angered by his explanation, the bandits took the phone and amputated his right hand before fleeing.
The injured man is currently receiving first aid in a patent medicine store in Kuduru community.
Confirming the incidents, the spokesperson for the Niger State Police Command, DSP Wasiu Abiodun, said security operatives had begun efforts to track down the perpetrators and rescue the kidnapped farmers.
“On November 26, 2025, at about 8 p.m., a report was received indicating that suspected armed men abducted about ten persons from Angwan-Kawo and Kuchipa villages of Shiroro Local Government Area,” Abiodun said. “Effort is being made to rescue the victims.”
The latest attacks come amid a deteriorating security situation in parts of northern Nigeria. They follow the abduction of more than 300 students and teachers from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, also in Niger State, less than a week ago.
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