At least 21 government militiamen have been killed in a surprise gun attack by armed gangs in Nigeria. AFP reported that the incident took place in the northwestern state of Katsina.
Katsina police spokesman Abubakar Sadiq Aliyu told AFP on Friday night that a convoy of government militia was attacked on its way to condole with the family of a dead colleague in Baure village in Safana district. “Unfortunately, 21 people were shot dead as a result of the attack,” he said. The police are working to arrest the attackers.
Katsina is one of the states in northwestern and central Nigeria where armed gangs regularly attack villages, killing and abducting people and spreading terror by burning and looting homes.
These gangs have camped out in the vast forests between Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna and Niger states and continue their criminal activities. In recent years they have become notorious for gang abductions of students.
In 2023, Katsina State Governor Dikko Umar Radda established the Katsina Community Watch Corps (KCWC), comprising about two thousand volunteers. Their job is to assist the army and police in the fight against gangs.