Nigerian soldiers have killed more than 300 members of kidnapping and cattle bandit gangs in the north-western state of Zamfara, according to a government official. The operation, which took place in the Gummi district, was carried out by government troops over a period of two days, resulting in the elimination of more than 300 terrorists, as stated by Zamfara’s information commissioner, Mahmud Muhammad Dantawasa.
The gangs, made up of cattle rustlers and jihadists, have been terrorizing communities in northern and central Nigeria, raiding farmers’ land, stealing cattle, and kidnapping people for ransom. They have also been imposing levies on farmers who want to access their own land in protection rackets. According to security analysts, jihadists and criminal gangs have been cooperating in recent years, with mutual interests aligning. Both are invested in a weak central government, which has struggled to maintain order in impoverished rural areas.
Local residents of Gummi reported that soldiers and local vigilantes launched a campaign on Wednesday night against about 1,000 bandits who had stolen livestock. The soldiers and vigilantes killed more than 300 bandits in the fight, which raged all night and the following morning, according to Abubakar Muhammad. Troops had previously attempted to launch an assault on the bandits’ camp two weeks ago but were outnumbered and forced to withdraw.
The Zamfara government has hailed the operation as a significant breakthrough in its fight to restore order to the state. Nigeria is currently facing multiple security crises, including an Islamist insurgency by Boko Haram and its rival, the Islamic State West Africa Province. The government has been working in partnership with the US to combat the insurgency, with a joint operation in May killing the second-in-command of Islamic State and about 200 fighters in a remote village in north-east Nigeria.
The country also struggles with general lawlessness and banditry, fueled by poverty. Jihadists and bandits have long used mass kidnappings of elementary-school children to extract ransom and pursue other demands. In a recent incident, the army suffered casualties during the rescue of more than 40 kidnapped schoolchildren who were taken by what authorities said were jihadists in the south-west of the country, an area previously thought to be relatively safe.
