The Nigerian military has eliminated more than 100 suspected members of a criminal gang in a coordinated air and ground offensive in Zamfara State, according to a United Nations conflict monitoring report seen by AFP on Monday.
The operation, launched in the early hours of Sunday in Bukkuyum Local Government Area, targeted a gathering of over 400 armed men — locally known as “bandits” — at their Makakkari forest camp.
Fighter jets, working in close coordination with ground troops, delivered a decisive strike that followed a wave of kidnappings and village raids in the state over the past month.
The report suggested the assault may have been prompted by this surge in attacks, which coincided with a recent lull in military activity in the region.Zamfara and other northwestern states have endured years of rural violence rooted in herder–farmer conflicts over land and water, now transformed into highly organised crime.
These armed groups engage in cattle rustling, mass abductions for ransom, illegal taxation of farmers and miners, and village raids that have displaced thousands.
The insecurity is deepening a malnutrition crisis as farmers abandon their land, while climate change and reduced foreign aid compound the humanitarian situation.
Despite sustained military deployments since 2015 and state-backed militia support, the banditry scourge has continued — with July seeing at least 95 gang members killed in a similar military operation in Niger State.
