Nigeria troops killed over 300 Zamfara gang members, official says

Nigerian troops killed more than 300 members of kidnapping and cattle rustling gangs in Zamfara state this week, a state official said Friday.

Zamfara information commissioner Mahmud Muhammad Dantawasa said troops targeted the gangs in Gummi district in a two-day operation that “led to the elimination of more than 300 terrorists.”

A Gummi resident, Abubakar Muhammad, said soldiers and local vigilantes fought about 1,000 bandits who were moving from their camp with hundreds of stolen cattle late Wednesday into Thursday. He also said more than 300 bandits were killed.

Another resident, Abubakar Kudi-Kasa, said the fighting began around 2130 GMT Wednesday and that gunfire and explosions continued through the night. He said the bandits were still under siege by soldiers and vigilantes.

Kidnapping and cattle rustling gangs, often called bandits, terrorise communities in northern and central Nigeria. Jihadist groups also operate in parts of the country, and security analysts have reported growing cooperation between some criminal gangs and jihadists.