For second time, gunmen have attacked the military camp in Allawa in Rafi local government area of Niger state, burnt down their camp and carted away weapons.

The gunmen were also said to have gone away with a Hilux van belonging to the military.

The gunmen numbering about 200 invaded Allawa town about 10;00pm on Thursday and made their way straight to the Military camp and engaged the soldiers in a fierce gun battle which lasted for several hours.

According to a source close to Allawa town, there were casualties on both sides but details of the actual casualties was still sketchy as the time of filing this report as nobody could go in or out of Allawa town.

A number of the villagers were equally caught in the crossfire between the soldiers and the gunmen, leaving the entire town now deserted as the villagers have escaped to the bush.

This latest onslaught by the gunmen is coming barely one week after a similar attack, targeting the Joint Security Taskforce camp at Galadiman Kogo which led to the killing of 11 members of the security Taskforce and unspecified numbers of civilian.

Houses, food barns, vehicles and other properties worth millions of naira were burnt down by the gunmen.

It will be recalled that in April last year, the gunmen invaded the same military camp in Allawa, killing five soldiers and an Inspector of Police.

This led to the shutting down of the camp by the military but it was reopened a month after with deployment of additional troops to the area.
In another development, gunmen said to be numbering about 300 and riding on about 100 motorcycles, invaded Mariga town in Mariga local government area of the state and rustled over 300 cattle.
A source close to the local vigilantes in the area said though nobody was killed, the gunmen went away with almost all the cattle in the town unchallenged

Courtesy(excluding headline) Daily Sun