An unconfirmed number of military personnel have been killed while attempting to repel a bandit attack along a highway in Zamfara State.
Sources revealed that among the casualties was an officer, Lieutenant Isma’il Yahya.
In a separate but related incident, terrorists stormed Tofa village, where they killed more than 15 residents.
Tofa community, situated in Magami district of Gusau Local Government Area, has been devastated by repeated bandit attacks.
Located near Gusau, the state capital, the village has reportedly been abandoned by most of its residents, unable to pay the levies imposed by bandits and left without sufficient security protection.
“The bandits on Sunday attacked the community; they ambushed the troops and killed many of them. The families of the dead soldiers have been informed, but the army has been silent on the incident.
“In Tofa, over 15 people were massacred, many others were injured, and some were nowhere to be found,“ a source said.
Efforts to obtain a reaction from Nigerian Army spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Onyinyechi Anele, were unsuccessful as her phone remained switched off.
Zamfara is one of the northern states grappling with relentless attacks by bandits, who raid villages, loot property, kill residents, and burn homes to the ground.
These armed groups operate from camps hidden within a vast forest that spans Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, and Niger states. In recent years, they have been responsible for mass abductions of students from schools across the region.
In 2019, the state government, under then-governor and current Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, entered into a peace agreement with the bandits.
However, despite the accord, communities in Zamfara have continued to suffer frequent attacks, with residents routinely kidnapped or killed.
SR.
