When the attack started this morning, the security operatives told residents to stay indoor while they exchanged fire with the assailants.
Terrorists suspected to be members of Boko Haram have invaded the garrison town of Bassa in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State.
Local sources around the village told PREMIUM TIMES that they had been hearing sporadic gunshots from the axis since 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
In one of the attacks on the town earlier this year, terrorists killed some soldiers, including a captain. The situation led to the withdrawal of troops from the town.
PREMIUM TIMES understands that residents recently returned to Bassa after the government deployed joint security operatives to protect the area.
“When the attack started this morning, the security operatives told residents to stay indoors while they exchanged fire with the assailants,” a source who received a call from Bassa this morning said.
Bassa has come under intense attacks from Boko Haram terrorists camping in the nearby Allawa forest reserve.
Many times, bandits crossing into the town through Zamfara’s Kuyambana and Kaduna’s Kamuku forest reserves held the residents hostage — killing, raping, kidnapping and maiming men and women.
Terrorists suffer defeat
The terrorists first invaded Bassa around 3 a.m. on Wednesday, but they were repelled by the joint operatives including local vigilantes and hunters deployed to the community.
Yusuf Dangana, a youth leader from Bassa told PREMIUM TIMES that the security operatives killed 21 terrorists during the first phase of the attack.
“The security [operatives] did not suffer any casualty on their side,” Mr Dangana said. “But we lost two of our people.”
Mr Dangana added that the security operatives captured four of the terrorists.
Among those killed include Zakaree Adam and a woman, Malawe Ali. They were killed when the terrorists reinforced back to the community.
“The terrorists came back to the community around 05:30 am and engaged the security officers in a gun duel,” he said. “It was in the process that they killed those two people.”
While Mr Adam was killed near a mountain where he had gone to make calls to alert neighbouring communities, Mrs Ali was killed trying to flee for her life.
Locals flee as terrorists mobilise around Bassa
“The bandits have mobilised again and they are around Bassa town,” another resident who spoke to our reporter in confidence said. “Everyone has left Bassa now afraid of what could happen next.”
In April, the terrorists killed five soldiers and a captain in some villages — Roro, Karaga and Rumace — in Bassa. Around that time, the terrorists also invaded Allawa, where they killed some soldiers in a landmine attack.
The military authority subsequently withdrew soldiers from the communities, a situation that led to displacement of thousands of locals.
While displaced locals from Allawa still wait to be relocated back home, those from Bassa were relocated last month with more than 100 security operatives to protect them.
Before they were displaced, the terrorists had asked the residents of Bassa to enter into a truce with them, but they rejected the offer, saying the previous peace deals did not yield any positive result.
Bassa is a farming community in Allawa district. It is located around the terror-ravaged Allawa forest reserve where Boko Haram terrorists have been camping for a while.