Nigerian Military Target Bandit Group Terrorizing Local Population 

The Nigerian military launched air and ground raids over the weekend that killed more than 100 gunmen, known locally as bandits, suspected to be members of criminal gangs operating in the northwestern Zamfara state, the BBC reported.  

The air force said it conducted the raid Sunday in the restive Zamfara state’s Bukkuyum area, where fighter jets and ground troops targeted a gathering of more than 400 gang members at their camp in the Makakkari forest. 

The operation aimed to eliminate the gunmen, suspected of carrying out high-profile kidnappings in the region, after surveillance detected the bandits preparing to attack a farming village.  

A spokesperson for the air force said the strikes killed several notorious bandit leaders and dozens of their soldiers, including some trying to flee the area, according to France 24 

Armed groups of bandits have plagued communities in northwest and central Nigeria for years, attacking villages, abducting residents for ransom, and setting homes on fire after looting them. 

In the past two weeks, armed gangs have attacked nearby settlements, leaving dozens of people dead and abducting numerous others.  

In an attack on Bukkuyum’s Adabka village Friday, an unknown number of residents were kidnapped and at least 13 members of security forces were killed. 

Nigeria’s banditry crisis began as a dispute over land and water rights between herders and farmers but has now morphed into an organized crime war, with gangs targeting rural communities that have little to no government support. 

In these impoverished areas, cattle rustling and kidnapping are lucrative activities, while the gangs also impose taxes on farmers and artisanal miners.  

The conflict is worsening malnutrition in the northwest by forcing people to abandon their farms, a situation further complicated by climate change and Western aid cuts. 

The violence has persisted despite efforts by the government, with analysts explaining that the military is stretched thin while bandits expand beyond their stronghold in the northwest into central Nigeria. 

Bandits, mostly driven by financial gain, have been teaming up with Nigeria’s jihadist groups, which have been engaged in a separate armed insurgency in the northeast for the past 16 years.