ABUJA: Zamfara bandits killed in a two-day Nigerian military operation exceeded 300 after troops and local vigilantes attacked armed criminal groups in Gummi district, officials said.
Zamfara Information Commissioner Mahmud Muhammad Dantawasa and local residents confirmed the casualties.
The operation targeted an estimated 1,000 heavily armed bandits involved in large-scale cattle rustling. Government soldiers and local community vigilantes jointly carried out the offensive.
The troops had tried to raid the same criminal stronghold two weeks earlier. It said security forces were outnumbered during that earlier attempt and withdrew before the latest operation.
Bandit groups in rural north-western Nigeria operate through cattle rustling, kidnapping for ransom and illegal levies on farming communities.
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Security analysts said criminal gangs and jihadist groups have increasingly overlapped in some areas.
Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province networks have shared weapons, training or logistics with some bandit groups.
Nigeria’s military is also fighting a long-running insurgency in the northeast, where jihadist factions remain active.
