Abuja [Nigeria], January 5: At least 30 people were killed and an unspecified number of residents abducted when gunmen raided a village in Nigeria's north-western Niger state, police said on Sunday.
A police spokesman said the assailants set fire to the market in the village of Demo on Saturday afternoon, looted shops and stole food. A security team has been deployed to the area and efforts to rescue those abducted were continuing, he said.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Police said they believe members of criminal gang were responsible.
Nigeria has been plagued by repeated attacks by both militant groups and criminal gangs, which often hide in forests before carrying out raids on villages and transport routes.
The latest attack took place near the area where about 300 children were abducted from a Catholic school in Papiri in late November. Fifty of the children managed to escape shortly after the abduction, while the others were later released.
Source: Qatar Tribune
