By Princess Simon (Bureau Chief North Central, in Minna)
It was a very sad day in the battle to push for an end to the reign of terrorists in Niger state as an Army Major and no fewer than 10 soldiers lost their lives in an ambush by armed bandits.
Also, an unspecified number of local vigilantes lost their lives during a fierce encounter between them and gunmen at Zungeru in Wushshi Local Government Area of Niger state.
Eight other soldiers who were lucky to have survived the ambush were seriously injured during the gun duel with the armed bandits last Sunday.
The armed bandits, said to be numbering about 70 and fully armed with sophisticated weapons came face-to-face with the soldiers who were also said to have defended themselves, having fought the gunmen to a standstill and successfully eliminating over 30 of them and several others with gunshot injuries.
The soldiers, it was learnt, had sent for reinforcements and went after some of the armed bandits currently hibernating inside the surrounding bushes as the soldiers were said to have sustained their violent offensive against the criminals.
NIGERIAN NEWSLEADER Newspaper sources, revealed that the soldiers while on their way to respond to a distress call from Akare community where the armed bandits had gone to rustle some cattle.
Unfortunately, the soldiers were given wrong information about the movements of the armed bandits, hence they ran into their ambush, a source from the community said.
"The soldiers fought gallantly to defend themselves notwithstanding, and about 30 of the armed bandits were neutralized in the encounter and their bodies littered inside the forest while those that were injured were taken away".
The source who however observed that the armed bandits were looking almost completely different from what many of them looked like in the past said, 'the physical and long hairs of the armed bandits that fought Nigerian soldiers yesterday is different from the ones that have been terrorizing our people, thereby fueling suspicious that they maybe foreign mercenaries were hired to carry out the attacks on the communities.
Further details indicates that, while the bodies of the slain soldiers were deposited at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Zungeru before they were evacuated on Monday morning to unknown destination, the corpses of the suspected mercenaries still litter the nearby bushes.
Already, as a result of the encounter, civilians in Akere, Wushishi and neighboring communities have abandoned their homes and are now taking refuge at Zungeru town, the source also explained.
Efforts to confirm the recent attacks was not successful as the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Internal Security, Alhaji Taureek Abdulrahim, did not pick when our Correspondent tried to reach him.
However, an officer at the 31 Artillery Brigade, Minna, when contacted, directed our Correspondent to the Director of Communications, Nigeria Army, saying, "We are not allowed to speak to the press, please contact Abuja".
Meanwhile, the people of Wushishi, Zungeru and neighboring communities have been gripped with fear following a heavy deployment of security personnel to the troubled area to fish out the criminals that are responsible for the series of attacks as they were said to be stranded inside the bush with rustled cattle and their injured ones as well.
In another development, another group of armed bandits has shutdown a military helicopter at Kukoki village in Shiroro Local Government Area of the state.
Details of the incident was however still very sketchy as at the time of filing this report. Unconfirmed reports had it that the helicopter was on its way to the scene of the gun dwell between the soldiers and armed bandits in Wusihshi before it was shot at. NNL.
