State-backed militia kills more than 100 Nigerian ‘bandits'
Members of Zamfara Civilian Protection Guard (CPG), a state-backed militia, stormed the stronghold of Bello Turji, a notorious 'bandit' kingpin, engaging his fighters in hours-long gunfight that left scores dead, said Ahmad Manga, security adviser to the state governor of Zamfara.
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Al Arabiya
a day ago
- Al Arabiya
‘Bandits' kidnap more than 50 people in northwest Nigeria: Security source
Gunmen kidnapped more than 50 people in northwest Nigeria in a mass abduction, according to a private conflict monitoring report created for the United Nations and seen by AFP on Sunday. 'Armed bandits' targeted the village of Sabon Garin Damri in Zamfara state Friday, the report said, the latest attack in a region where residents in rural hinterlands have long suffered from gangs who kidnap for ransom, loot villages and demand taxes. The report said this was the first 'mass capture' incident in the Bakura local government area this year, 'the recent trend of mass captures in Zamfara has been concerning,' noting 'a shift in bandit strategy toward more large-scale attacks in northern Zamfara.' A Zamfara police spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. Nigeria's 'banditry' crisis originated in conflict over land and water rights between herders and farmers but has morphed into organized crime, with gangs preying on rural communities that have long had little or no government presence. The conflict is worsening a malnutrition crisis in the northwest as attacks drive people away from their farms, in a situation that has been complicated by climate change and western aid cuts. Last month, bandits in Zamfara killed 33 people they had kidnapped in February despite receiving a $33,700 ransom, while three babies died in captivity, officials and residents told AFP. Bandit-extremist cooperation Since 2011, as arms trafficking increased and the wider Sahel fell into turmoil, organized armed gangs formed in northwest Nigeria, with cattle rustling and kidnapping becoming huge moneymakers in the largely impoverished countryside. Groups also levy taxes on farmers and artisanal miners. Violence has spread in recent years from the northwest into north-central Nigeria. Two weeks ago, Nigerian troops killed at least 95 members of an armed gang in a shootout and airstrikes in the northwest state of Niger. But the military is overstretched. While improved cooperation between the army and air force has aided the fight, analysts say, airstrikes have also killed hundreds of civilians over the years. Bandits, who are primarily motivated by money, have also increased their cooperation with Nigeria's extremist groups, who are waging a separate, 16-year-old armed insurrection in the northeast. The recent emergence of the Lakurawa group in the northwest has worsened violence in the region. Governments of affected states have been forced to recruit anti-extremist militias fighting the militants in the northeast to assist in countering the bandits.
Al Arabiya
3 days ago
- Al Arabiya
Extremists kill 15 farmers, children in northeast Nigeria: Sources
IS-affiliated militants killed over a dozen farmers and children in a gun attack and mine explosion in Nigeria's northeast Borno state, the epicenter of extremist conflict, two anti-extremist militia members told AFP Friday. Fighters from IS West Africa Province (ISWAP) opened fire on a group of farmers and children riding in an open van and a motorized rickshaw outside Gurnowa a village near the garrison town of Monguno on Thursday, the militias said. Separately, a woman farmer and her three children fleeing the area died when their wooden cart hit a landmine planted by the extremists near the attack scene before they withdrew, the militia said. 'Our men have evacuated 11 bodies to Monguno while another team has left to bring the woman and her three children,' said Babakura Kolo, an anti-extremist militia leader assisting the military in fighting the extremists in the region. The 11 were returning to Monguno after working on their farms when they were attacked by the extremists, said Ibrahim Liman, another member of the militia who gave the same toll. The insurgents made off with the van and the rickshaw of the slain farmers, the two militia said. 'The woman and her three children had abandoned their farm in hearing gunshots and were heading back to Monguno when the cart they were pushing rolled over an explosive buried by the terrorists, killing them all,' Liman said. From the images of the 11 victims seen by an AFP reporter, most were shot in the head, including two women and two children. Gurnowa, five kilometers (three miles) from the military fortified town of Monguno, has been deserted for years following extremist attacks, with its inhabitants forced to seek shelter in makeshift camps in Monguno. Monguno, 140 km north of the regional capital Maiduguri, houses tens of thousands of internally displaced people, who fled their homes to escape the violence and live in sprawling camps under military protection. The United Nations says more than a million people will face hunger in northeastern Nigeria amid resurgent extremist attacks, huge cuts in foreign aid and a spiraling cost of living. The 16-year conflict has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced more than two million from their homes, according to the UN.
Asharq Al-Awsat
28-07-2025
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Iraqi Police Clash with PMF Fighters Who Stormed Government Building
A gun battle erupted in Iraq's capital on Sunday between police and fighters from the state-sanctioned Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), killing at least one police officer and leading to the arrest of 14 fighters, authorities said. The clash broke out in Baghdad's Karkh district after a group of fighters from the P PMF stormed an Agriculture Ministry building as a new director was being sworn in, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. The PMF is an umbrella group of mostly Shiite paramilitary factions that was formally integrated into Iraq's state security forces and includes several groups aligned with Iran. According to the Interior Ministry, the PMF fighters burst into the building during an administrative meeting, causing panic among staff who alerted police. Security sources and three employees at the scene said the fighters had wanted to stop the office's former director from being replaced. A statement from the Joint Operations Command, which reports directly to Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, confirmed that the detainees were PMF members and had been referred to the judiciary. At least one police officer was killed and nine others were wounded, police and hospital sources said. Sudani ordered the formation of a committee to investigate the incident, the command said. The arrested fighters belong to "PMF brigades 45 and 46", the statement added. Both brigades are affiliated with Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, according to Iraqi security officials and sources within the PMF.
