Military comb Niger State forest for fleeing bandits after gun duel left most bandits dead

Military personnel have thrown a cordon around the notorious forest in Magnda village near Allawa in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State, to flush down the remaining bandits, they are pursuing after a lengthy gun battle led to the death of many of the merchant of deaths terrorising the area.

This came after the bandits, said to be escaping from an onslaught against them in Zamfara and Katsina states, reportedly stumbled in to a military base stationed in the village

However, one soldier was said to be missing in the incident which saw the two parties engaging in fierce gun battles for hours after the bandits, who were said to be escaping through the notorious Allawa Forest were sighted by soldiers from the military camp stationed at Allawa Forest.

Body counts of the bandits who fell to the superior firepower and expertise of the soldiers are said to be difficult to ascertain as they reportedly litter the forest, while locals are reporting that the gunmen were foreigners.

The soldiers are also said to be on the trail of many of them who did not die, but reportedly escaped with serious bullets wounds, while about six machine guns and a number of AK-47 riffles and bags of ammunitions were said to have been recovered after the incident.

A source at Allawa community said: “In fact from the dead bodies that we saw, they look like foreigners, all of them are carrying long hair like women. They don’t have resemblance of Nigerians and they don’t know the terrain that was why they ran into the soldiers. They did not know that there is soldiers camp there.”

Allawa is host to the military base, where a band of gunmen invaded in April this year killing five soldiers and a mobile policeman, in a surprise attack.

The soldiers were said to have been attacked at about 3:00 am when they had just returned to from an area patrol, leading to the razing down of the entire base, by the bandits who later moved to the community where they killed seven people and abducted a number of villagers.