Five soldiers and one police officer were killed on Monday when troops were ambushed by militants in north-west Nigeria, the military said on Tuesday.
According to a military statement, the troops were travelling to respond to an earlier attack on a village in Zamfara State when they came under fire. The military did not identify the group responsible for the ambush.
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Zamfara is one of several states in the region plagued by armed gangs, locally referred to as bandits, who have carried out widespread killings and kidnappings in recent years. The groups typically operate from remote forest areas, targeting villages and travellers.
Nigeria’s security forces have struggled to contain the violence, particularly in hard-to-reach rural communities where limited infrastructure hampers rapid response.
The military said that in a separate operation, troops carried out raids on several communities in Zamfara between January 17 and January 19, during which four militants were killed and three suspects arrested.
