Nigerian troops killed over 300 members of kidnapping and cattle rustling gangs, known locally as bandits, in the northwestern state of Zamfara this week, a state official said Friday.
Jihadists and “bandit” gangs specialising in kidnapping for ransom terrorise communities in northern and central Nigeria, where they launch deadly raids and impose levies on farmers wishing to access their own fields.
Security analysts have noted increasing cooperation between the criminal gangs, who are motivated primarily by financial gains in the impoverished country, and jihadists, who are waging a 17-year-old insurrection in the northeast.
Last month at least 34 farmers were killed in two attacks during raids by armed gangs.
The Zamfara government described this week’s operation as a “significant breakthrough” in the fight against violent crime.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country is grappling with multiple security crises.
Northeast Nigeria has been gripped by an Islamist extremist insurgency since 2009, first by Boko Haram, then its offshoot and rival, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
Nigeria has in recent months claimed success in killing jihadists after the US airstrikes carried out on Christmas Day in collaboration with Nigerian forces in northwestern Sokoto State targeting fighters from the IS in the Sahel group, usually active in neighbouring Niger.
Washington has since deployed hundreds of troops to Nigeria to support and train its forces.
A joint US-Nigeria operation killed the global second-in-command of the Islamic State group, alongside nearly 200 others fighters a remote village in northeastern Nigeria.
