By Laleye Dipo in Minna

The Commander of the local vigilance corps in Kpada village in the Lapai local government area of Niger state Danladi Dobbo and four others have been killed by gunmen that raided the community on Friday.

Three of the men of the vigilance group were said to have come from Abaji while the Commander and one other came from kpada community.

Some villagers are also reported to have been killed but this has not been confirmed.

Several other villagers, mostly farmers, according to reports were  injured in the attack by the bandits with some of them kidnapped.

THISDAY learnt that the attack took place when the villagers were on their rice field. The gunmen suddenly appeared and shot sporadically .

Alarm was said to have been raised, resulting in the local  securitymen being mobilised to the troubled area and in the battle that ensued five vigilantes lost their lives while some of the terrorists escaped with gunshot injuries.

The remains of the vigilantes are still in the forest as at the time of filing this report Saturday morning.

Niger State  Commissioner for Internal Security and Humanitarian Affairs Mr Emmanuel Umar when contacted confirmed the incident which he also described as unfortunate.

Umar however appealed to members of the community not to go into the forests to recover the remains of those killed, saying armed securitymen will be despatched to the area to assist in the recovery effort.