Nigerian soldiers killed more than 300 members of kidnapping and cattle bandit gangs in the north-western state of Zamfara this week, according to a government official.
Government troops targeted the gangs in Gummi district in a two-day operation that “led to the elimination of more than 300 terrorists”, Zamfara’s information commissioner, Mahmud Muhammad Dantawasa, said in a statement.Gangs made up of cattle rustlers and jihadists have terrorised communities in northern and central Nigeria, where they raid farmers’ land, steal cattle and kidnap people for ransom. They also impose levies on farmers who want to access their own land in protection rackets.
Jihadists and criminal gangs have been cooperating in recent years, according to security analysts, who say their mutual interests align. Criminal gangs have become widespread in impoverished rural Nigeria, while jihadists continue to wage a 17-year insurgency in the north of the country. Both are invested in a weak central government.
Residents of Gummi said soldiers and local vigilantes had launched a campaign on Wednesday night against about 1,000 bandits who had stolen livestock. “The soldiers and the vigilantes killed more than 300 bandits in the fight which raged all night and the following morning,” Abubakar Muhammad told Agency France-Presse.
Troops had tried to launch an assault on the bandits’ camp two weeks ago but were outnumbered and were forced to withdraw, residents said.
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