Nairobi: More than 200 suspected members of an armed criminal gang in central Nigeria have been killed in an ongoing operation, an official said. The large-scale, multi-agency offensive started on Saturday and had also led to arrests, the media officer for the Kogi state government stated—without specifying a number.
According to Nam News Network, footage shared by the Kogi police, filmed from a helicopter, shows flames raging from one settlement in a densely forested area. For years, members of criminal gangs—known locally as bandits—have carried out killings and kidnappings for ransom, mainly targeting those in the north-west. However, they have been moving to other parts of the country more recently. This operation is a response to a surge in mass abductions, including attacks on schools, which have sparked nationwide outrage and prompted the government to intensify security efforts.
Last month, authorities secured the release of the remaining pupils and teachers kidnapped in November from a boarding school in Niger state, which borders Kogi. Several bandit camps were destroyed during coordinated operations over the weekend involving different arms of the country's security and paramilitary forces, Kingsley Fanwo, Kogi state's commissioner for information, said. However, efforts to hunt down those who had fled were being hampered as they were using some civilians they had abducted for ransom as human shields, he added.
Security forces have put them in disarray wherever they try to regroup, Fanwo mentioned. The primary issue is that the bandits have kidnapped several individuals, using them as human shields, knowing that the security forces wouldn't want to harm the hostages along with the bandits.
Kogi state has increasingly emerged as an insecurity hotspot. Its location—linking Nigeria's north and south through dense forest corridors—has made it attractive to armed groups operating across state boundaries, security officials say. Security expert Bashir Galma, a retired army major, noted that the Kogi offensive follows a recent directive by President Bola Tinubu to top security officials to intensify efforts against the bandits. The number of casualties quoted might well be exaggerated considering there is no proof, and as politicians try to curry favor with a year to go until elections, he said. However, it was a surprise attack, so a large number of them might have been killed.
As well as kidnapping gangs, Nigeria faces an array of other complex security issues, including an Islamist insurgency, clashes over land, and separatist unrest. On Tuesday, the US military tweeted a photo of a plane with critical military supplies being unloaded in Nigeria's capital, Abuja. The US Africa Command's post on X said the delivery supported Nigeria's ongoing operations and emphasized its shared security partnership.
The US has recently become militarily involved in Nigeria, launching some airstrikes on Christmas Day on two camps run by an Islamist militant group in north-western Nigeria. Last week, US President Donald Trump warned of more strikes if Christians continued to be killed in the West African nation. There are more than 250 ethnic groups in Nigeria, which is roughly divided into a mainly Muslim north, a largely Christian south, with intermingling in the middle—and the government says people of all faiths have been victims of attacks.
Last week, a foreign ministry spokesman responded to Trump's warning, saying that Nigeria would continue to engage constructively with partners such as the US. Nigeria remains committed to protecting all citizens, Christians and Muslims alike, without discrimination, Alkasim Abdulkadir said.