Kano | Eighteen people have been killed and many injured in attacks by “bandits” in Kaduna state in northern Nigeria, local authorities said Thursday.
Criminals commonly known as “bandits” arrived on motorcycles and invaded several villages in Igabi and Chikun districts overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, shooting residents, burning houses and stealing livestock, Samuel said Thursday. Aruwan, the local minister for internal security of Kaduna state in a statement.
“Security agencies have reported several attacks by armed bandits against civilians in the local government areas of Igabi and Chikun over the past 48 hours, which have left 18 dead and an unknown number injured,” he said. minister.
These attacks, he said, were committed in retaliation for “targeted air operations” against the “bandits” who terrorize populations, steal livestock and carry out mass kidnappings in the north-west and center-west of the country. Nigeria.
In early February, “bandits” killed 19 people in attacks on villages in Birnin Gwari and Kajuru districts, also located in Kaduna state.
These criminal gangs often hide in camps in the Rugu Forest, which spans four states in northern and central Nigeria: Katsina, Zamfara, Kaduna, and Niger.
These criminal gangs are motivated by greed, but some have forged strong links with jihadist groups present in the northeast.
This criminal violence has killed more than 8,000 people since 2011, and forced more than 200,000 people to flee their homes, according to a report by the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank published in May 2020.