The Nigerian military has killed more than 100 members of a criminal gang in an air and ground raid over the weekend, according to a conflict monitoring report produced for the United Nations (UN), yesterday.
Armed groups, called “bandits” by locals, have for years been terrorising communities in north-west and central Nigeria, raiding villages, kidnapping residents for ransom and burning homes after looting them.
According to reports, the military raid in Zamfara state was launched in the early hours of Sunday, in the Bukkuyum local government area, where fighter jets in coordination with ground troops pounded a gathering of more than 400 bandits in their Makakkari Forest camp.
The military’s attack “may have occurred in response to consecutive banditry, especially kidnapping, in the state in the previous month”, the report stated, noting a link between a recent decrease in military operations in the state and a spate of bandit attacks.
Bukkuyum’s Adabka village was on Friday the scene of a bandits attack that saw residents kidnapped and 13 security personnel killed. Bandits had been planning an attack on a farming village when “air and ground troops ambushed a bandit camp… killing over 100”, the report said.
A spokesman for the Nigerian Army did not respond to a request for comment.
