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Gunmen have reportedly killed 20 people after ambushing a convoy of traders travelling under military escort in Zamfara state.
According to Reuters, the traders were heading to Nasarawa market in Bukkuyum LGA from Gwashi on Saturday, when they were attacked at about 2pm.
The publication reported that four soldiers, three police officers and an officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) were among those killed, alongside 12 civilians.
A military source told Reuters that 19 people were also wounded in the attack.
The incident adds to a series of violent attacks in Zamfara in recent months.
It comes about a month after gunmen abducted six Islamic clerics along the Dakko-Damri feeder road in Bakura LGA of Zamfara.
Yazid Abubakar, the state’s police spokesperson, said the clerics were travelling to Talata Mafara when armed bandits intercepted their vehicle.
Abubakar said the assailants, reportedly armed with sophisticated weapons, ambushed the vehicle and abducted the six victims, all of whom were identified as imams.
In June, seven students of the Federal Polytechnic, Kaura Namoda, were abducted by suspected bandits.
Abubakar had told TheCable that the gunmen abducted the students during an attack on their residence in the Low-Cost area of Kaura Namoda town.
The police spokesperson said preliminary findings showed that one of the students stepped outside during the night and inadvertently left the door open.
Abubakar said operatives of the command’s violent crime response unit (VCRU) had teamed up with troops of Operation Fansan Yamma to track down the abductors and secure the victims’ release.
