At least 13 people, including three local vigilantes and a police officer, have been killed in an attack by gunmen suspected to be bandits in Mariga local government area of Niger State, northern Nigeria.
According to local sources, the coordinated assault took place late on Tuesday night across Magoro, Kumbashi and Bangi—the administrative headquarters of Mariga. Witnesses said the attackers arrived on approximately 150 motorcycles, heavily armed, and opened fire indiscriminately, leaving dozens injured.
Eyewitness accounts reported that the gunmen approached from the direction of the border shared with Zamfara State. In a further move to isolate the communities, the attackers reportedly destroyed a telecommunications mast, cutting off mobile phone networks and preventing residents from calling for help.
Local officials believe the assault was a retaliatory strike following recent military airstrikes targeting bandit camps along the Niger-Zamfara border. Those airstrikes were launched after 17 Nigerian soldiers were killed in an ambush in Gulmin Boka, also within Mariga local government area, two weeks earlier.
Alhaji Abbas Kasuwa Garba, chairman of Mariga local government area, confirmed the incident on Wednesday. While he could not provide an exact casualty figure, he described heightened fear among residents, as the attackers moved from one village to another.
Efforts to reach Niger State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Wasiu Abiodun, were unsuccessful at the time of reporting. However, a senior police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the attack.
