At least 17 members of a “large group” of bandits were also killed in a “fierce” gun battle lasting more than two hours, officials have said
More than 200 armed bandits launched an attack on a security base in northwestern Nigeria on Monday, killing at least 30 people, including police personnel, civilians, and a local vigilante, the authorities have said.
The “large group” of assailants, riding motorcycles, raided the Makuku camp in Kebbi State’s Sakaba Local Government Area at about 6 AM local time, the Nigeria Police Force said in a statement on Tuesday. The facility houses personnel from the Special Intervention Squad and Police Mobile Force.
Police reinforcements, backed by the Nigerian Army and Nigerian Air Force, engaged the assailants in a “fierce” gun battle lasting more than two hours, according to the statement. “The force sadly lost ten personnel in the line of duty, while one vigilante member and two civilians also lost their lives in the attack,” the police said.
Police spokesperson Ani Iniedu said at least 17 bandits were also killed and several motorcycles destroyed. Inspector-General of Police Olatunji Rilwan Disu praised the “gallantry and sacrifice” of the officers and ordered additional forces into Sakaba and neighboring communities.
The attack occurred near Kebbi’s border with Zamfara State, a center of armed banditry where criminal gangs move through forests and remote settlements to raid villages, steal livestock, and kidnap people for ransom.
Africa’s most populous nation has battled overlapping security crises for more than a decade, with militants, including those linked to Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province, carrying out attacks and mass abductions.
On Sunday, the Nigerian Army announced that troops have rescued 33 people abducted by gunmen in Zamfara. It also followed the August 5 rescue of 308 abductees in northern Nigeria – the country’s largest single-day rescue operation.
The Makuku assault follows a series of deadly attacks on security forces in recent months. In March, suspected militants ambushed personnel responding to warnings of an imminent attack in Kebbi State’s Shanga area, leaving nine soldiers, a police officer, and a civilian dead, according to the state government. No group claimed responsibility, but the authorities identified Lakurawa, an Islamic State-linked group active in Kebbi and neighboring Sokoto State, as the likely perpetrator.
Last October, gunmen ambushed a security patrol in neighboring Zamfara State, killing five police officers and three members of a local paramilitary force, the authorities said.
