Heavily armed bandits in the early hours of Wednesday, invaded a military camp in Zazzaga community in Munya Local Government Area of Niger State.

The bandits numbering over 60 reportedly  engaged  the military personnel in a gun duel. The bandits were said to have recorded a huge casualty as the soldiers engaged them until they exhausted their ammunition.

Report says no soldier was killed in the attack, however, one identified as the Resident Sergeant Major (RSM) of the camp  was declared missing as his whereabouts is still unknown as of the time of filing this report.

According to PUNCH,  a reliable source close to Zagzaga community, said the bandits stormed the community at about 4:00am and shared themselves into three groups.

While one group made their way straight to the military camp located at the Junior Secondary School about 500 meters from the town where they engaged the soldiers in a gun battle, the second group laid ambush on the major road leading to the community.

The third group were said to have made their way to the community to prevent any reinforcements from the community vigilantes and the youths.

According to the source, after two hours of gun exchange from 4.00am to 6.00am, the soldiers ran out of ammunition and made a retreat but not until they (soldiers) inflated heavy casualties on the bandits.

After the soldiers made a retreat, the bandits stormed the camp, set the military vehicles on fire and went away with another. The bandits also burnt the food store in the camp.

“I think the bandits might have used the military vehicle to evacuate the injured ones and possibly some dead ones among them because the soldiers really fought them to stand still until their ammunition finished.

“The bandits came around 4:00am, and since that time, it has been gunshot sounds until about 6:00am this morning” the source said.