An ambush by gunmen in central Nigeria late Sunday killed at least 26 members of the Nigerian security forces and injured eight more.
Furthermore, an air force spokesman stated that a helicopter rescuing injured people crashed on Monday morning in the area where the army is fighting criminal groups, without clarifying whether the crew and passengers survived.
The two military officials requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the incident, and military authorities were unavailable for comment.
“We lost 23 soldiers, including three officers, and three Civilians JTF (vigilantes) in the encounter, while eight soldiers were injured”, stated the first source, following a serious fight along the Zungeru-Tegina route.
A second officer confirmed the toll and stated that the bandits also sustained heavy casualties. He also stated that contact had been lost with an air force chopper assigned to remove the casualties, carrying 11 deceased and seven injured.
He further stated that the chopper was transporting 11 of the deceased and seven of the injured. He went on to say that the plane had fallen due to shooting from bandits.
A spokesman for the Nigerian air force confirmed that a Mi-171 helicopter on a casualty evacuation mission crashed on Monday after taking off from Zungeru.
“The aircraft had left Zungeru Primary School en route to Kaduna but was later discovered to have crashed near Chukuba Village in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State”, stated spokesman Edward Gabkwet.
He stated that attempts were underway to rescue people aboard and that preliminary inquiries into the reason for the crash had begun.
In Africa’s most populous country, hardly a week goes by without an attack or kidnapping by outlaws known as bandits in the northwest and central of the country.
The gangs, known for mass school abductions, have camps in a large forest that straddles the states of Niger, Kaduna, Zamfara, and Katsina.
Bandits have terrorized Northwest and Central Nigeria for years, raiding rural villages and killing and abducting residents for ransom, as well as burning homes after plundering them.
Experts claim that impunity, as well as weak security and official presence, has allowed the violence to persist.
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