Bandits have carried out yet another violent assault in Palaita community, Erena Ward, Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State, abducting 24 people, including pregnant women, from a rice farm.
According to a community source, the attackers arrived around 2:00pm on Wednesday while residents were busy harvesting their crops.
Despite Palaita being just five kilometres from a military base in Erena, the bandits reportedly fled with their captives before security forces could intervene.
Earlier that same morning, a different group of armed men stormed the Kakuru community, also in Erena Ward, where they assaulted a blind resident and severed his right hand after taking a mobile phone from him.
The attackers, who arrived around 8:00am, met only the visually impaired man at home, as others had gone to their farms.
The victim reportedly told them the phone belonged to a neighbour who had gone to the farm, but the assailants, angered by his response, seized the device and amputated his hand. He is currently receiving basic treatment at a patent medicine shop in the Kuduru community.
The Public Relations Officer of the Niger State Police Command, Wasiu Abiodun, confirmed the incident, stating that efforts are underway to rescue the abducted victims.
“On November 26, 2025, at about 8pm, 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.”
This latest attack comes barely a week after gunmen kidnapped over 300 students and teachers from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, Niger State, amid a worsening national security situation marked by repeated mass abductions across northern Nigeria.