Bandits terrorizing Niger State communities on Friday opened fire on themselves following a sharp disagreement between the leader of the gang and his boys in Shiroro Local Government Ares over ransom paid to them earlier.
It was reported that 12 of them were dead while several others suffered degrees of injury.
The leader, popularly called Mallam Dogogide, had accused his boys of short-changing him after their previous operations.
Dogogide is said to be one of the leaders of the three notorious bandits gangs operating within Shiroro, Rafi and Munya Local Government Areas in Niger and Birnin Gwari in Kaduna State.
Angered by this, he summoned his boys for a meeting and threatened to sack them and replace them with new recruits.
The action did not go down well with his boys and this was said to have led to a heated argument.
However, one of his boys attempted to kill him when he opened fire but his boss deflected the bullet.
Loyalists of the leader, who were angered by the disloyalty to Dogogide fought back in defense of their leader, opened fire and gunned down 12 of the disgruntled ones, while others escaped.
A source revealed that some of the bandits later stormed the village after the “battle” and abducted ten men to help bury the dead bodies.
After the burial, the ten men were released.
This scenario, however, led to the disappearance of some other bandits from the area.
