53 Civilians Killed, 34 Abducted
By Ezinwanne Onwuka
Lakurawa terrorists laid siege to northwest Nigeria last week, storming a security camp in Kebbi State and killing 10 police officers before invading a town in Sokoto. In the northcentral, armed men in military uniforms ambushed travelers on major highways, even as a separate attack in Benue left at least three people dead.
Northwest Reels From Lakurawa Assaults
More than 200 ISIS-linked Lakurawa fighters on motorcycles descended on a security camp in Makuku, Sakaba County in Kebbi State at about 9:25 a.m. Monday, Aug. 10, the Nigeria Police Force confirmed.
The camp housed personnel from the Special Intervention Squad Platoon 2 and Police Mobile Force 48.
The militants and police exchanged gunfire for more than two hours before reinforcements from the Nigerian Army and Air Force arrived from Kebbi and neighboring Katsina State.
The camp was eventually secured, but the attack left 10 police officers, a civilian vigilante and two other civilians dead. Two police officers were wounded.
Police said the attackers “suffered significant losses,” with at least 17 militants killed and several motorcycles destroyed.
Inspector-General of Police Olatunji Disu called the deaths of the officers “a painful loss to the Force and the nation.”
The assault was not an isolated clash. On the same day, Nigerian forces confronted another group of Lakurawa fighters elsewhere in Kebbi.
Troops operating in Dandi County said they ambushed militants moving toward Ugwan Hassan village.
The fighters scattered under fire, abandoning motorcycles, mobile phones, communication radios and an identity card belonging to a Nigerien national from the Tillabéri region.
Nigerian media also reported that Capt. Ismael Abubakar, described as the commandant of a National Youth Service Corps orientation camp in Wamakko County, Sokoto State, was killed in a separate attack by armed bandits in Kebbi.
Four days later, on Friday, Aug. 14, more than 200 motorcycles — with some residents putting the figure above 300 — reportedly carried heavily armed men into Kebbe, a town in southern Sokoto State.
The attackers entered at about 10:00 a.m., moving through the town as they looted shops and seized mobile phones, food and gasoline.
They also reportedly attacked the police headquarters and entered the general hospital, where they damaged the vehicle of the local police commander.
Troops stationed at a military base on the outskirts of town engaged the attackers in a gun battle.
Residents and a security source cited by Daily Trust said four soldiers were killed. One account said three died at the scene and a fourth died after being evacuated to a hospital.
Sokoto police confirmed the Friday attack on Kebbe town but said no civilians were killed or injured in the attack while the Nigerian Army has not commented on the reports.
Nigerian Tribune also reported the killing of at least 22 people, including the Chief Imam of Ungushi Izala Jumu’at Mosque, Imam Aliyu, by suspected bandits in the Ungushi community of Kebbe County on Sunday evening, Aug. 16.
The violence spilled into neighboring Zamfara State on Saturday night, Aug. 15.
Gunmen reportedly attacked Tungar Bore in Talata Mafara County, killing two people and abducting at least 40 women, according to Bakatsine, a conflict reporter on X who tracks security incidents in the region.
Nigerian authorities and major news organizations had not independently corroborated the report as of the time of this publication.
Highways Become Hunting Grounds in Kogi State, North Central
At about 5:35 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 11, armed men dressed in Nigerian military uniforms stopped two commercial vehicles along the Ajaokuta–Itobe Road in Ofu County in Kogi State—a Toyota Sienna and a Toyota Hiace bus.
They abducted an unspecified number of passengers. But the kidnappers did not get far with their captives.
Troops from Patrol Base Itobe responded to the attack and found both vehicles abandoned by the roadside, empty. They followed the kidnappers’ trail toward the outskirts of Adumu in Dekina County (Local Government Area), where they engaged the fleeing gunmen in a firefight.
The kidnappers fled into the surrounding bush, leaving their captives behind.
The Nigerian Army said nine people — two elderly men, two elderly women, four other adult men and an infant — were rescued.
The rescue came less than 24 hours after another group of kidnapped commuters had been freed in the same County.
Sixteen victims — six men, six women and four children — were abducted Sunday, Aug. 9, elsewhere in Kogi State when gunmen attacked commuters along the Ojuwo-Ajengo-Memarebo and Ojiwo-Itobe roads.
By 11:30 a.m. Monday, Aug. 10, security forces received intelligence that the victims were being held near Adumu.
Troops from the Army’s 21 Battalion and personnel from Nigerian Navy Ship Lugard joined police, local vigilantes and other community security personnel in a search-and-rescue operation.
A firefight followed. The kidnappers fled, leaving all 16 captives behind. One local hunter was killed, and a police officer was wounded.
The attacks have raised questions about which insurgencies and which criminal gangs are operating along Kogi’s increasingly dangerous highways.
TruthNigeria reported that survivors described their captors as armed men carrying AK-47 rifles who spoke Fulfulde, the language of the Fulani tribe, and moved their victims through forested terrain.
A local vigilante commander said armed groups, often operating in units of 10 to 20, have repeatedly targeted travelers along the Ajaokuta-Itobe-Anyigba corridor.
A security analyst cited by TruthNigeria said the evidence points most strongly to kidnapping networks linked to Fulani ethnic militias, while cautioning that Kogi’s forests are also used by other armed groups, including suspected Ansaru cells and local criminal gangs.
The highway attacks were not confined to Kogi.
Two days later, on Thursday night, Aug. 13, another commercial bus was intercepted in neighboring Benue State.
The 18-seater bus was traveling from Enugu toward Abuja when gunmen stopped it around the Ankpechi–Omutele axis in Ohimini County, according to police. Fourteen passengers were aboard.
Security forces rescued five, including a 4-year-old boy, but nine remain in captivity. One of the rescued passengers was wounded by gunfire and is receiving treatment at a medical facility in Otukpo.
As security forces dealt with the highway kidnappings, another attack struck communities in Ukum County, Benue State, on Sunday morning, Aug. 16.
The attackers moved through communities in the Mbazun Mbaterem area, including Myina, Ikpur, Ayaba, Ajio and Aboajo, according to residents and local officials.
Benue police confirmed an attack at Aboajo village at about 7:00 a.m. and said three people were killed and four others suffered machete injuries. Additional tactical and patrol teams were deployed to the area.
Local accounts put the toll higher. Punch reported that five bodies had been recovered, while The Guardian cited a local official who said four bodies had been recovered and a survivor who estimated seven people were killed. Vanguard reported that residents feared at least 10 people had died.
Benue Gov. Hyacinth Alia condemned the violence and said security agencies had been deployed to the affected communities. He described the attackers as suspected terrorists “masquerading as herdsmen” and warned that attacks would not force residents from their ancestral lands.
Ezinwanne Onwuka is a conflict reporter for TruthNigeria.
