No fewer than 20 military personnel were reportedly killed when armed bandits stormed two army camps in Niger State’s Mariga Local Government Area on Tuesday, with many others wounded in the attack.
According to local sources, a group of over 200 armed men on motorcycles launched a surprise attack on the camps located at Kwanan Duse and Gulbin Boka communities. The assault started early in the morning and lasted for several hours, leaving a trail of destruction and loss on both sides.
While the Nigerian Army later stated that 17 soldiers died in the confrontation, efforts to recover the remaining bodies were still ongoing as of the time of this report. Some of the wounded soldiers have been taken to a medical facility for treatment, and they are said to be in stable condition.
According to reports, the attackers first hit the Kwanan Duse camp, where they engaged the soldiers in a violent gun battle that went on for nearly four hours. The chairman of Mariga council, Abbas Adamu, was said to have contacted the military base in Kontagora for help during the attack.
Before reinforcements could arrive, the attackers shifted to Gulbin Boka for a second strike. Soldiers stationed there responded quickly, resulting in another intense shootout in which several bandits were gunned down.
Adamu noted that the attackers were likely from Zamfara State and may have entered Niger through the Shadadi forest. He explained: “We got the information about their movement and we immediately alerted the Military but we did not actually know where they were heading to. Surprisingly, about 9:30a.m., on Tuesday, we learnt they were already attacking the soldiers at Kwanan Duse.”
He added that the purpose of the attack appeared to be to force soldiers out of the area so the bandits could carry out operations in nearby communities without resistance.
“From all indications, the aim of the bandits was to dislodge the military from their camps and have unhindered access to some communities in the council because since the soldiers were stationed there, the bandits have been prevented from frequent attacks on the communities,” he said.
Though the attackers did not kidnap anyone during the assault, they looted shops in Gulbin Boka and stole livestock from surrounding villages.
Mallam Abubakar Sani, head of the local vigilante group, also confirmed the incident but could not give an exact number of bandits killed during the battles. In response, joint forces of the military and local vigilante groups have moved into the Gulbin Boka forest, located along the Kontagora-Rijau road, believed to be one of the hideouts of the armed group.
