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Nigeria’s military campaign against criminal gangs in the northwest is pushing them into neighboring areas following a telecommunications shutdown and a cut in fuel and food supplies, residents and local officials have said. .
Hundreds of soldiers backed by fighter jets launched the offensive in early September in Zamfara state against gunmen responsible for an upsurge in kidnappings and massive attacks in the northwest.
The offensive and official telecommunications blackout in Zamfara is the largest recent operation against the gangs, known locally as bandits, who for years have plundered villages and kidnapped for ransom.
Zamfara and other states have also imposed a series of restrictions, including a ban on the sale of gasoline in jerry cans and limits on livestock movements and opening hours of local markets to reduce supplies to bandits. .
But as pressure mounts in Zamfara, residents of villages in neighboring Katsina and Kaduna states have reported an influx of armed men fleeing Zamfara into their communities, raising fears of attacks.
Fleeing bandits set up illegal checkpoints along highways in Katsina state, near the border with Zamfara, stealing food trucks and siphoning fuel from vehicles, residents said.
“In recent days, we have witnessed an increased presence of armed motorcycle bandits in our area,” said Ashiru Bawa, a resident of Kankara district.
“The food and fuel cut is seriously affecting them.”
Local newspapers reported that the Zamfara bandits were running out of food and even demanded ransom food from hostage families instead of the money they usually demand.
Authorities in Katsina have also cut telecommunications signals in about half of its 34 districts on the border with Zamfara. Sokoto state followed on Sunday, cutting off mobile service in some areas.
The telecommunications blackout aims to disrupt communications between the bandits and their informants to help keep the movements of the army secret.
But the closure also makes it difficult for residents to alert security personnel, said Bawa, who traveled to the state capital Katsina, 120 kilometers (75 miles), to make calls.
The bandits did not harm motorists, but fear grew that they could launch attacks once they “regained their strength,” Bawa said.
Nigeria has already launched military campaigns against bandits in the northwest and even sought amnesty deals to persuade them to abandon their hiding places deep in the region’s vast forests.
But most of these operations and peace agreements either failed or only temporarily shut down the criminal gangs.
Weapon cache, attacks
Residents of Giwa district in neighboring Kaduna state also said Zamfara bandits had settled in the area and occupied two villages.
Dozens of armed men on motorcycles invaded the farming villages of Saulawa and Damari, prompting residents to evacuate their families to other areas.
“They (the bandits) entered mainly on foot, looking hungry and helpless, and are heading into the depths of the forest,” said Husseini Ibrahim, a resident of Udawa in Birnin Gwari district.
Ibrahim said some of Saulawa and Damari’s gunmen preached to locals, which he said suggested links to the Ansaru jihadists known to operate in the forests.
Nigerian bandit gangs have no ideological bent and are motivated by financial gain. But there have been signs of their infiltration by jihadists leading a 12-year insurgency in the northeast.
Last year, police said they killed more than 250 members of Ansaru, an al-Qaeda-affiliated group that split from Boko Haram in 2012, in the Birnin Gwari area.
“The bandits are driven out of Zamfara and go to Birnin Gwari and the security forces are not pursuing them,” said Ahmed Isah, a resident of Birnin Gwari.
“They should coordinate the operation with neighboring states to block all escape routes if they want to run over the bandits, otherwise Operation Zamfara will only cause them to change locations.”
Authorities in Kaduna have reported an increase in bandit attacks in remote areas of the state.
“Several residents are said to have lost their lives,” said Samuel Aruwan, Kaduna state security commissioner.
Authorities in the northeastern state of Adamawa have also raised concerns about the flight of bandits from Zamfara to a mountainous area in Maiha district, on the border with Cameroon.
“Some bandits who escaped from Zamfara are fleeing to the mountains of Sagal which has been an enclave of bandits due to its difficult terrain,” Idi Amin, political head of Maiha district in Adamawa, told AFP.
Troops aided by local vigilantes raided the hideout of a Zamfara bandit and recovered a cache of weapons, including hand and rocket-propelled grenades, Amin said.
But the runaway bandit named Haruna “managed to escape” with his men, he said.
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