'Bandits' kill eight security personnel in northwest Nigeria

Disarmed members of an anti-banditry vigilante group Zamfara in 2019. [AFP]

Gunmen from criminal gangs on Thursday killed eight security personnel in northwest Nigeria's Zamfara state, the state governor and police said.

Zamfara is one of several states in northwestern and central Nigeria that have for years been terrorized by criminal gangs known as "bandits" who steal cattle, raid villages, kidnap and kill residents and loot and burn homes.

The gangs maintain camps in a vast forest straddling Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Sokoto, Kebbi and Niger states from where they launch attacks on communities.

A group of bandits opened fire on a convoy of security personnel patrolling a highway linking Zamfara and neighbouring Katsina state around 1200 GMT.

"I just received sad news of the death of eight security men, comprising policemen and the Community Protection Guards (government-backed militia) who were ambushed and killed by bandits along Gusau-Funtuwa road", Dauda Lawal Dare, Zamfara state governor said on Facebook.

A statement from the police in Zamfara confirmed "five gallant police officers paid the supreme price in the line of duty" when they were "ambushed" by several armed bandits while on routine patrol.

Their statement made no reference to the three militia also killed in the attack.

The security forces engaged the attackers in a shootout in which several of the bandits were "neutralized" while others fled, it said.

Bandits regularly set up barricades along highways, open fire on vehicles, and kill or kidnap travelers for ransom, prompting patrols by security personnel.

Since 2015 soldiers have been deployed to fight the criminal gangs in Zamfara but attacks have persisted. A government amnesty and cash incentives have failed to end the violence.

Communities in Kaduna and Katsina states have been making peace deals with bandits, but security analysts caution the gangs may only be creating safe havens from which they can continue their attacks.

Although the gangs are motivated primarily by financial gain, their increasing cooperation with jihadists waging an armed insurrection in the northeast has caused concern among officials and security analysts.