Again, some heavily armed men suspected to be bandits on Saturday stormed Zungeru Minna highway and kidnapped passengers traveling in two 18 seaters buses.
The armed bandits in their large numbers barricaded the highway while shooting from all directions and killed four people immediately.
CAPITAL POST reliably gathered that the gun men held motorists and travelers hostage for over four hours without any challenge from the security agents close to the scene.
The armed bandits dressed in military camouflage moved close in about 20 meters to the Zungeru Military base and created traffic gridlock throughout the operation.
According to an eyewitness account who identified himself as Ahmed Shuaibu and who escaped from the scene of the operation, said sighted the bandits in a large convoy on motorcycles with each of the bikes carrying 3 persons fully armed.
He disclosed that the armed men arrived the highway at about 5.23pm on Saturday and embarked on their deadly operation for over three hours without any challenge from the nearby military base in Zungeru.
He said after their attacks on travelers they left the scene with the 36 passengers in the buses and the two drivers abandoning the two buses. The buses it was gathered that were coming from Abuja on their way to Yauri in Kebbi state.
There was official confirmation from the State Police Command and relevant security agencies in Minna before filing this report, it’s recalled that Minna -Zungeru highway has been notorious armed bandits attacks in the last four months.
Also, activities of armed bandits, cattle rustling and suspected men of Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) and Boko Haram have been on the increase in some parts of Niger State.
The secretary to the Niger State government (SSG), Alhaji Ibrahim Ahmed Matane had at a press briefing on the security situation in the state told Journalists that the state government had expended the sum of N5 billion in managing the security situation in the last two years, while the sum of N300 million has been expended on internally displaced persons (IDPs) camps in the state within the same period.
