At least 10 vigilante members, including forest guards, have reportedly been killed and five others abducted after terrorists suspected to be armed bandits attacked Oke-Ode community in Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State.

Residents said the heavily armed assailants stormed the agrarian town in the early hours of Sunday and engaged local security volunteers in a fierce gun battle.

Community sources told SaharaReporters that the vigilantes, who had long served as the first line of defence in rural Kwara, were overpowered during the confrontation.

A video obtained from the scene and made available to the media showed lifeless bodies of the slain guards lying in pools of blood as grieving relatives and sympathisers wailed around them.

One resident lamented the sudden withdrawal of soldiers who had previously been stationed nearby.

“We don’t know why they withdrew the soldiers. Now our people are exposed. We learnt that 10 people were killed and five were kidnapped. The situation is now terrible,” the source said.

Confirming the incident, the press secretary to Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, Rafiu Ajakaye, described the killings as devastating beyond words.

In a message shared on a WhatsApp group, Ajakaye wrote: “This is sad. Devastating beyond words. Please be patient. It could have been worse without the effort of the forest guards. Three guards died, one got injured. Many of the attackers also died.”

The conflicting casualty figures have further fuelled tension in the community, where residents are demanding urgent intervention from security agencies.

The Oke-Ode killings come barely days after another attack in Tsaragi community, Edu Local Government Area, where bandits abducted a businessman, Suleiman Ndana, during a midnight raid.

Ndana, who recently built a fuel station in Yana Kokonna, was reportedly targeted by the assailants, who stormed his home around midnight and whisked him away after operating for several minutes.