No fewer than 16 persons have been reportedly killed in the Sunday attacks on Kpanche and other communities in the Bassa Local Government Area of Kogi State.

The traditional ruler of Mozum community in the area, Alhaji Khalid Bukar, who put the number of casualties at 16, told newsmen in Lokoja that the attacks started Sunday morning and spread by afternoon to Ozugbe and Biroko, two villages under his domain, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.

He said that those killed included the Madaki of Biroko, Alhaji Mohammed Umar, and four of his subjects.

Earlier, the police in Lokoja had confirmed the death of 10 persons after the attack on Kpanche.

The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ali Janga, told newsmen that the dead included five residents of the community and five of the bandits.

“Yes, five lives were lost in the village but operatives of the police mobile force and soldiers repelled them and succeeded in killing five bandits and recovered some weapons.”