The police command in Niger has confirmed that suspected armed bandits set ablaze a police station and part of a church in Agwara community in the early hours of Sunday.

The police public relations officer in the state, SP Wasiu Abiodun, confirmed this in a statement in Minna on Sunday.

Mr Abiodun said that the attack occurred at about 3:40 a.m., when the bandits invaded the Agwara Police Station.

He said that the police tactical team on duty engaged the attackers, adding that the bandits later overpowered the officers and used suspected dynamite to set the station on fire.

According to him, the assailants subsequently moved to the United Methodist Church (UMC) in the community, where they burnt part of the church building.

The police spokesman also said that the bandits later proceeded to other areas of the community and abducted about five persons, whose identities had yet to be ascertained.

“The situation is being monitored, and further developments will be communicated in due course,” he said.

He assured that security agencies had commenced investigations and intensified efforts to track the perpetrators and rescue the abducted victims. 

(NAN)