Bandits have reportedly abducted 24 residents, including a pregnant woman, from a rice farm in the Palaita community, Erena ward, Shiroro LGA of Niger state.

According to Channels Television, a source in the community said the bandits attacked the farm at about 2 pm on Wednesday while residents were harvesting their crops.

The report said bandits surrounded the workers and took them to the bush before security personnel from a military base five kilometres away, could respond.

In another development, earlier that same day, a different group of armed men launched attacked on Kakuru community, also within Erena ward.

The attackers, who arrived around 8am while most residents were on their farms, found only a blind resident at home.

After seizing a mobile phone from the victim, they brutally assaulted him and severed his right hand.

He is reportedly receiving emergency care at a local patent medicine shop in the Kuduru community.

The incident comes just days after gunmen attacked St. Mary’s Private Secondary School in Papiri, Agwara LGA of Niger state and abducted over 300 students and staff.

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the state said 50 out of the abducted students have regained freedom and “quietly reunited with their families”.