A convoy of pro-government fighters was returning from a funeral when they came under fire from bandits in Katsina state.
At least 21 government-backed fighters have been killed in an ambush by bandits in Nigeria’s northwest Katsina state, authorities said.
Katsina police spokesperson Abubakar Sadiq Aliyu told the AFP news agency on Saturday that a convoy of pro-government fighters was returning from paying condolences to the family of a fallen colleague when he came under fire from bandits in the village of Baure, in the Safana district. .
“Unfortunately, 21 people were shot and killed as a result of the attack,” Aliyu said, adding that police were seeking to “ensure the arrest of the perpetrators” of the attack, which occurred on Tuesday.
Witnesses, however, told Nigeria’s Premium Times that up to 25 people were killed in the attack, while many other villagers remain missing.
Nigerian newspaper The Guardian said the fighters were members of the state-backed Katsina Community Watch Corps (KCWC).
The newspaper also quoted Aliyu as saying that police had been deployed to the area of the attack to help restore order.
Katsina is one of several states in northwestern and central Nigeria plagued by bandits who attack villages, killing and kidnapping residents, burning and looting homes.
In June 2024, at least seven people were killed and 100 others kidnapped when gunmen attacked a rural community in the state.
The gangs, which maintain camps in a vast forest straddling Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna and Niger states, have gained notoriety through mass kidnappings of students from schools in recent years.
The Nigerian group Boko Haram has also carried out attacks and kidnappings in the state.
In 2023, Katsina State Governor Dikko Umar Radda established the KCWC force, consisting of around 2,000 personnel, to help the army and police fight gangs.
